A Voice So Loud
by Chitose Fama
Summary: Ona is a living, breathing conflict. She wants fame, but fears she is too average for the spotlight. She has gifts but not the confidence to apply them. Posing as the Avatar could turn her around, or push her from the high and dry rocks and into the fire.
1. Maintaining The Mask

~~~~*** Hello everyone! Welcome to Avatar: A Voice So Loud! Just to let you know, I have many illustrations to go with this story, all of which are posted on my profile. If you want to see what the characters look like, there are a few sketches for you to gander at. More will come with newer chapters.

Please review if you like this first chapter. I'm having trouble collecting intrest, so if you start reading, and you get bored, please let me know how I could have better entertained you. Thank you! See ya soon! ***~~~~

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"_I would look at him often during those months we were together, though I doubt he knew much of my stares. As time went on I found myself wanting only one thing for him; I wished that someday that gentle mouth of his could be put to use. But, not at all in the way you think. _

"_I was told that the Avatar towed with him a shroud of illusion. Deceit often followed him, and he was constantly stalked by confusion. This put me in the realm of paranoia for a good while. I ceased to trust my own eyes, even when I was by his side. _

"_When he told me that he had realized love, my trust failed me. I stared at him, and waited for the wool to fall away from my eyes."_

_-_Onatha

**Chapter One**

**Maintaining The Mask**

The gallery was about to close, though much to the dismay of the night watch coming in there were still people milling about between the exhibits and the gift shops. The guards used their kindest words as they coaxed the citizens out the doors, forced patience smothered over their stolid faces. One guard was a fire bender, and when everyone had left he took a torch and went to lock the doors to the Replica Gallery alone.

He paused at the door, keys dangling from his fingers, and stared down the long rows of statues with a subtle sense of awe. Every stone carving depicted an Avatar from the past, frozen in their finest moment. Some were battling monsters, others reaching out their hand to save a life; one was shown pressing his lips to the forehead of an infant, a sign of newly forged peace between the nations.

The guard blinked, finding himself several yards into the room among the lofty statues. He had wandered in without realizing it. It was not surprising; there was a heavy weight of majesty in this room, even with the pools of shadow shrouding the corners. A puddle of moonlight illuminated a circle in the center of the floor, the silvery light making a statue of one Avatar glow like the heavens.

A shadow moved farther down the corridor. The guard felt his stomach flip and clenched his teeth to stay a yelp of fright. He stretched out his torch, peering cautiously ahead and calling out a warning.

"Hello? Is someone there?" he said. "The Replica Gallery is closed, you will have to leave."

He heard the sound of fabric shifting, a rustle of skirts perhaps. The tap of soft shoes on the stone tiles…

Narrowing his eyes, the guard crept toward the sounds with his torch held high. The flame cast weird bobbing shadows around him and drew long, dark marks on the stone faces by his side. His heart was beating fast and his hands had begun to sweat, but he told himself that he should not be afraid.

His halo of orange light unveiled a small shoe, green and studded with small black beads. A foot was stuffed into the leather, connected to a leg, connected to the body of an elderly woman. She was standing before one of the smaller statues, looking up at it and frowning.

Her wrinkles looked almost frightening in the firelight, but from the side she somehow appeared profoundly sad and helpless. The guard whispered to her, trying not to make her jump.

"Ma'am, do you know the gallery is closed? You'll have to go home; can you get there by yourself?"

She spoke without looking at him. "Hush, lad," she said, "I know how to get home just fine. I'm not batty, I'm just old."

"Oh," the guard blushed. "W-well, the Gallery _is_ closed now ma'am. You can't stay here."

Her frown deepened. "I know that. Here, bring that light closer, please. Just for a moment."

He hesitated, but then obeyed, edging nearer to the woman and the statue with the torch raised.

The woman shook her head, gazing at the face of the Avatar and rubbing her hands together as if she were in pain. She sucked in a bumpy breath and let it out slowly. "You know," she muttered, "this is the only gallery in the entire Earth Kingdom that has a statue of him. I've been everywhere…looking, but this is the only one."

Now the guard frowned. He studied the statue more carefully and was surprised when he realized that he barely recognized it. It was an odd illustration: a young man, barely any older than his own teenaged son, stood at the edge of an outcropping of rock, his back turned to the open space behind him. His youthful face was still, his expression like the stone he was carved from. In his eyes was a wealth of emotion, though it was difficult to pinpoint what he was feeling. His shaggy hair and earth bender's robes billowed around him, a wild wind coming from somewhere beneath his feet.

The guard tilted his head, thinking. He had always thought that he knew every statue in the Gallery perfectly, down the folds in their clothing, but here was one he had hardly even noticed. It made him a little ashamed, to have ignored any incarnation of the Avatar was highly disrespectful. But…who was this boy? He glanced at the name plate at the base of the carving, stuck into the depiction of the rocky ledge.

Avatar Haurran

The Silent Herald of the Spirits

He leaned away and looked once more at the boy's face. His stone hands were open, palm up as if in surrender. Long bangs seemed to flicker in front of his eyes, the cool rock etched with some lost passion.

"I…don't know this Avatar," the guard admitted.

The old woman laughed. "Most people don't. When he is remembered, it is as the mute, the Avatar who could not speak. He was a poor bender, but he was wise and kind. That's why I like this statue, he almost seems real."

The guard bit his lip and turned away, looking at the Gallery doors still open where he had left them. "It is a very nice statue, ma'am. But, I need to close the Gallery now, so you have to leave."

"Oh, of course," she agreed, and the guard sighed. She stole one last look at the Avatar, sad longing clear on her face. "You were a fool Haurran," he heard her murmur. She sniffed contemptuously and wrinkled her already wrinkled brow. "And stop looking at me with those eyes! I'm leaving now."

She turned and shuffled away, the guard at her side all the way out to the Gallery entrance. He watched her pick her way down the road alone, wondering if he should have insisted on guiding her home. She disappeared around a corner and it was too late. He returned to the Gallery and pulled the doors closed, twisting the key into the lock until he heard it click, and left it in the dark.

* * *

"Why are you nervous Ona? It's ridiculous when you act like this."

Ona speared her father with a sour glare. "It's not ridiculous at all. If I lose this match I'll be out of the top rankings when we go to the Championship. Drat if I let that witch Basha take my spot again like she did last year." She stared across the stadium at her opponent, another girl dressed in red. Fire bender, second class judging by the patches on her uniform. "At least I didn't get matched with an air bender again."

"Yeah, you'd be throwing up if that happened," said a voice behind her.

Ona slouched in her chair. "No one asked you, Nokki. I don't even know what you're doing here."

A twig-like boy scuttled up next to her, grinning wide enough to split his face. "I'm your support system. I'm supposed to encourage you to do your best and all that."

"Well, you're doing a terrible job."

He laughed and moved away to his seat in the stands. There were only a hundred or so people watching the qualifying tournament, most of them the parents of the participants or siblings who got dragged along. Nokki was probably the only person in the whole stadium who was not obligated to be there.

For some reason this made Ona feel even worse. She kept her angry disguise on as long as she could, even as her father squeezed her shoulders and gave her advice on the match. She didn't listen to him; she'd heard this talk a thousand times already and knew exactly what he would be telling her.

_Make a defense for your flag first, and remember that fire benders need to have a solid base to stand on for their more powerful attacks. Blah, Blah, Blah._

She sighed and closed her eyes, absorbing the full wrath of the butterflies in her stomach. She attempted to settle them, but it was a half-hearted effort. Her mind was in too many places at once. She was in the middle of telling herself to get it together when she heard her name called.

She stood up, locking her knees so they wouldn't cave under the wave of panic that crashed over her. As she walked she forced deep breaths, the encouraging calls from her family and friend lost in the chaos of her thoughts. Her feet were on the platform before she even noticed that she had moved, and she was suddenly glad that she had done this all many times before.

The announcer was babbling on about something…statistics or previous wins. Not that it mattered much once the game started. Just because someone had other victories under their belt didn't mean they would perform well in this particular round. Something could always go wrong and that would be the end of it.

Ona felt her stomach lurch and instantly pushed her worries away. She tried to make herself look confidant by stamping her feet, as if she were testing the earth. As if she knew what she was doing. But if she really did know, why was she stomping around like a drunken monkey? She wasn't standing on real ground, this wasn't real earth, just grit and dirt shipped in for the competition. It was fake really, so there was no point—

"BEGIN!"

Ona thought her heart stopped. She looked around franticly and saw a fireball roaring toward her, trailing smoke like a tail and clouding the field. She cursed, knowing that she was already off to an awful start.

She located her flag, a green piece of cloth tied to a pole off to her left. Heat slammed into the front of her body like a wall, warning that the hunk of flame was dangerously close. One stomp with her left foot, a diagonal slide with the other, cross the forearms…she felt the earth lunge up at her call, blocking the flying fireball with a crumbling wall of stone.

Next, guard the flag. She dipped low, feeling the weight of the earth like blocks on her arms. Yet when she lifted her hands they were light as they had always been. With four fingers she jabbed straight up, and the ground responded by raising a mountain of rocky rectangles straight up into the air. Her green flag flapped at the peak, untouched.

She heard her opponent grunt in frustration. As if the match would be that easy. Ha. Ona attacked the girl fire bender next, wanting to beat the next fireball to the punch. She clapped her hands, the ground rippled, and then as she kicked upwards a dozen pointed rocks blasted out of the hard-packed dirt. She sent them flying: four went straight, a double set of two shot off to the sides, and the last four dived from above. The other girl blasted a few of the rocks, swinging her leg out in a flaming arch, then dodged the rest like a dancer.

Dust drifted in the air, so Ona took the opportunity and sprinted for the other side of the arena where the fire bender's flag would be. Suddenly she saw her shadow dance in front of her, dark and long. Then she felt the warmth on her back and knew another fireball was on its way.

_Defense, coming up, _Ona thought, and leapt into a twirl. The soil swarmed up after her fingers and wrapped around her in a ring. She halted and swept her arms down, dragging more earth over her head like a blanket, creating a solid ball of earth where she could hide. The fireball slammed down, making the whole stadium shake.

The sphere could only withstand a few fireballs of that size before it crumbled, leaving her with nowhere to run. It would be like an oven if this kept up.

"So," Ona whispered, "no more fireballs." She pressed both of her hands into the dirt, then began pounding the ground furiously, over and over until her knuckles were bloody and caked in earth. The world seemed to be vibrating, trembling in an earthquake made by her hands.

Tiring, Ona broke apart her stone ball and stood up. All around her the ground was gorged with enormous spikes of stone, like the back of a porcupine mouse. She stepped in a small circle, searching for the flag. She found it, sticking sideways out of one of the taller pillars, almost like it was daring her to climb up and reach it.

She smirked and shot forward. Her foot hit the pillar, her feet sticking solidly, and then she was charging straight up, tearing a path in the rock as she went.

Halfway up, a voice boomed in her mind, as loud as if someone were shouting in her ear.

"_LEFT!"_

Ona whirled and there by her was the fire bender, flying up with flames spewing from her feet. That was a new trick. The other girl spun, all of her limbs spread like a star, and a fire storm whipped up around her. The flames were so close that Ona nearly got burned, but she managed to scramble up higher to safety, sweat drenching her competition robes. Scowling, she anchored her feet with shoes of stone, and then leaned out away from the pillar until she was parallel with the ground.

She flicked her wrists down, then whisked her arms up, pulling twin pillars right out of the ground. She stretched them all the way up to the heart of the firestorm that swarmed only feet away, and then clenched her fists.

Instantly the fire sputtered out, revealing the other girl, stuck with one upraised foot and half her torso encased in rock. The pillars held her still so that she looked like a doll set on an awkward display. Ona didn't have time to laugh, as the fire bender was already raising her arms. Flattening her hands, Ona made several sideways chopping motions, sensing the solid pillars crumble in an avalanche of rocks. The girl fell with the boulders, still trapped, and landed with a crash amongst the rubble where she spat and cursed aloud.

Casually, Ona righted herself, and made her way up to the red flag. She grabbed it in her hand and waved it, signaling her victory in the match. Her nerves were gone, replaced by pride as she beamed at the cheering crowd. It was a very lovely moment for her, until her gaze wandered down to the end of the stands. There she met eyes with a boy, blank faced and impassive, and she heard his voice in her head.

"_Good job."_


	2. Speak Without Sound

~~~~*** Hey, welcome to chapter two! If you made it this far, then you are offically farther into the story than anyone else has ever gotten. Haha...oh, that's really not funny. ;)

Anyway, on my profile is the illustration for this chapter called "I'm Your Support System" go take a look! It's very nice, I think. Okay, please review if you have any suggestions. To know that **anyone** is reading will help me a lot. Just think how happy you'd be to get a review when you've never had one before!

Alright, I'll stop bothering you. See ya soon! ***~~~~

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"_My daughter stood out for reasons all her own. She put her heart into earth bending, but I did always fear that because of that, she would never have passion for anything else. I knew how much she hated herself at times. She often wondered if she were disfigured in some way. Why else had she never received a second glance?"_

-Ronna, Mother of Onatha

**Chapter Two**

**Speak Without Sound**

Nokki started babbling faster than a river when Ona stepped off the field. His endless compliments and praise reminded her of the magician who had traveled to her village a few years before, and how one of his acts had been to pull a bundle of strange items out of his hat. He seemed to have everything from marbles to rowing oars crammed neatly into such a small space. The crowd had been very impressed.

The way Nokki seemed able to instantly create dozens of things to praise Ona for, even when there wasn't much to praise, sometimes seemed like magic. She had to admire his quick wit, at least.

"…and you barely got any dirt on your left hand, which is really good because you are actually right handed so that one is more powerful anyway," he gushed. "And you made 13 pillars when you did the earthquake. That's a lucky number, and its odd, and you know that artists like to use odd numbers."

"Nokki, please," Ona groaned, waving her hand to fan herself. She was sweating like a long-haired bear in a volcano. "You can say it: that was not a great match. I almost let that girl saunter up and swipe my flag while I was daydreaming, and then she nearly burnt my eyebrows off with that firestorm. I'll be losing points all over the board."

She turned to her father, excusing herself and promising to return in time to see the scores. Without looking back she set out to get a drink of water from the fountain at the very end of the arena. She slipped through the bamboo gate and took up a small clay cup, glad to be alone in the cool shade. Just as she reached out her hand to dip the cup in the fountain, the water bubbled, and lifted of its own accord. Like a snake dancing before its prey, a thin streak of clear liquid floated off the surface and through the air into her cup.

"Thirsty after that fiery match, Onatha?"

Ona squeezed her fingers around the little mug. "Basha…" she hissed, "so, you were watching?"

The other girl stepped up next to her, gorgeous blue robes shifting like small waves around her hips. Basha sat on the wide rim of the fountain and played her fingertips over the surface of the water, appearing careless and innocent. The poisonous look in her eyes told a different story.

"Of course," she said smoothly, "I watch all your matches. You are so very talented with those rocks."

_Witch, witch, WITCH!_ Ona put on a smile. "You're not so bad either. I saw that you got paired with a fire bender for your last round. An easy win for you, I suppose?"

Basha smiled back, obviously biting her tongue at the insult. "I wouldn't say 'easy' exactly. She was a first class bender after all."

"Like that matters," Ona snorted. "A third class water bender could cripple a first class fire bender any day. Well, that wasn't entirely true…in fact it was mostly false, but it sure made Basha's face red, and that was all that mattered. Admit it. That was the easiest match of the season for you."

The claws were out now; Ona could see it in the way Basha cut her blue diamond eyes. The girl tossed her head, her shiny black locks flipping over her shoulder as her mind worked for a retort. "I guess it must suck being an earth bender then. Having no absolute dominance over any other element sure makes things difficult for you back-woods benders."

Ona's fist nearly smashed the clay cup, but she kept her emotions still. No way she would let Basha see her angry… or afraid for that matter. "It really all comes down to the scores. As a water bender, you got a pretty nasty penalty for struggling so much against a few fireballs."

The other girl pushed away from the fountain, ready to leave. "You're right; it does come down to the scores. In that case, we'll have to see how well you did." She began to walk away, her flawlessly beautiful curves mocking the blatant square-ness of Ona's figure. "Oh, and…just some advice, you should stop wearing the boy's competition uniform. The earth bender's skirts might help you look a little less plain…if you know what I mean."

Basha slunk away, trailing a scent of spring water and lilies that made Ona feel sick. Once alone, she tossed the water in her cup to the side and refilled the small mug in the fountain. She had a few moments of peace to fume quietly, until she realized that someone was standing at the fountain behind her.

She looked over her shoulder and saw a young man dressed in green and brown, his shaggy hair the color of the soft dirt of the forest. She noticed that he smelled of pine.

He became a little paler when Ona glanced at him, but he didn't say anything to her. Instead, she heard a soft voice that seemed to come from every direction at once.

"_How does she put up with that witch?"_

Ona frowned at the boy, and he seemed to become even paler. Then she smiled and laughed softly. "Not easily, let me tell you."

He stared at her, and in her mind she felt pellets of confusion smack her consciousness, though the emotion was not her own. It frightened her a little, and she gulped her water more quickly.

She made out the words _"Did she hear that?"_ in her own ears as if they had been whispered to her. She waited for more, but nothing except a subtle feeling of excitement reached her. She decided to experiment.

"What's your name?" she asked the air in front of her.

"_Wait…Is she talking to me? Is she asking me?"_ came the answer.

"My name is Ona…well, actually Onatha, but Ona is what everyone calls me." She tried not to feel silly, talking to the air. "What's your name?"

A second of hesitation, a heartbeat of taut silence, and then the air seemed to answer. _"I'm Haurran,"_ it said, and she didn't feel silly anymore.

She turned to the boy and looked him directly in the face. "You're the one then? Your name is Haurran?"

"_What's going on? I don't understand…can she hear me?" _More pellets of emotion, panic and unrest. _"It's not possible…how can she—"_

"Listen," she cut him off, "stop looking at me with those buggy eyes already. It's a simple question: is your name Haurran?"

Slowly, with his dark eyes wide, the boy nodded.

Ona sighed and narrowed her own eyes curiously. "How are you doing that? Making your voice sound like it's everywhere, I mean. How do you do it?"

The boy, Huarran, only continued to look at her in wonder. His doe-like gaze was unsettling. _"But…I'm not doing anything,"_ he said. _"I can't…It doesn't…"_

"That's really amazing," Ona complimented. "You don't even have to move your lips. Are you a performer? You're really good at throwing your voice."

"_But I'm not…I'm not speaking, I can't."_

She made a face, disbelieving. "What do you mean you can't? You're doing it right now."

For a long time Huarran looked at her sadly, as if he didn't want to be having this conversation anymore. He swallowed, looking down. _"I've never been able to…I was born mute."_

"That's impossible," Ona scoffed. "I can hear you talking. You're not mute."

"_It's true!"_ he insisted, and clapped his hands over his mouth. _"Listen! I'm not speaking, I'm not talking. I can't talk…but you...you can hear me?"_

Ona nodded. "Every word."

They stared at each other, speechless. Ona felt a little dizzy, and wondered if she was dreaming, but then she glanced up and saw a thin man walk up behind Haurran, calling out his name in anger.

"_Doric," _Haurran thought unpleasantly. He turned as the man set a skinny hand on his shoulder, his hooded eyes glaring down at Ona with contempt.

"What did you think you were doing?" the man demanded. "Your masters are worried sick. And who is this?"

Haurran shrugged Doric's hand off and rolled his eyes at Ona. He raised his hands and made several signs to the thin man, then dropped his arms with exasperation.

Doric eyed Ona carefully, his chin raised high. "You were in that last match, weren't you? Shouldn't you be checking your scores, not milling around back here?"

"I was just leaving actually," she replied shyly. "I needed to get a drink."

"Hm. Fine, then be on your way. Haurran needs to apologize to his masters for walking off unattended." Doric once again gripped the boy's shoulder, and Ona felt a wash of resigned dislike prickle her mind. It was clear that Doric was putting Haurran in a bad mood.

The tall man nodded stiffly to Ona, then pulled his young charge away, leading him toward the door.

"Um, can I ask you something?" she called.

Doric paused, though he was making an unpleasant face and squeezing Haurran's shoulder tightly. "What is it?"

"I just…" her mouth felt dry, so she looked away and forced the words out. "Is he really mute?"

Doric scowled. "Of course he is. You didn't hear him talking to you, did you?"

Then they both turned and left, while Ona remained by the fountain, not sure what to think.

Ona was surprised at how well she scored, even with her very clear mistakes during the match. It seemed the earthquake had earned her a helpful bundle of points in the Tactical section, though she had been penalized harshly in Awareness for having her head in the clouds before the game even began.

Of course she got a handful of points because she won the match, and as always, her score in Element Mastery was high. Altogether she placed fairly well, though she was only ahead of Basha by a single digit.

As the awards were gifted and the tournament came to a close, Ona could not help skimming her eyes over the crowd every few minutes. She hoped to see Haurran again, to have the opportunity to talk with him about what they had discovered, but she could not find him amongst the many shifting heads, and concluded that he had left the stadium.

That night her family celebrated Ona's qualification into the Championships the same way they always did: eating honey roasted river-boar. The dish was a specialty of Ona's mother, who said that the secret of making a fantastic meal lay in the freshness of the ingredients. Ona really didn't care what the secret was, it was always her favorite thing to eat.

"I've never been so full in my whole life," Nokki groaned. He was reclining on the floor, his legs under the table and his hands contently rubbing his belly. "Oh, except for your last celebration Ona, I was full then too."

"You'll make yourself sick, eating like that," Ronna, Ona's mother, scolded kindly. "That's what I tell Topum every year, but he is never satisfied until he eats his weight in meat."

Nokki grinned. He had the most charming smile in all the Earth Kingdom, or so all the girls and their grandmothers would say. Ona thought this was rather silly, since Nokki was actually from the Northern Water Tribe, a water bender born and raised in the snow. He was supposed to be attending school in Ba Sing Se, as an exchange student of sorts, but he had been uncomfortable with the rowdy city life, and transferred to Ona's more moderate village in the fall.

Three years ago Ona had been a loner, spending all her time practicing earth bending and preparing for competitions. She hadn't been interested in relationships, especially since she had been teased since childhood for looking like a boy. Individuals got under her skin, made her nervous, so she tended to keep to herself and after time everyone simply left her alone.

Nokki had been annoyingly persistent. In the beginning he wasn't so much Ona's friend, as he was the boy who followed her around like a homesick puppy and ignored all of her attempts to shelve him. This had both worried Ona, and confused her. Nokki was extremely well-liked, a favorite of teachers, of his classmates (the googly-eyed girls in particular) and of everyone else who talked to him for a few seconds. Ona liked him too, but that didn't mean she had to talk to him, or pay attention when he talked to her. To hear Nokki tell it, he had been interested in Ona's skill as a bender, but it was suspected that the real reason he had been hounding her was because she had been the first person not to be enraptured by his alluring personality.

He wouldn't stand for it. The thought bothered him more relentlessly than a swarm of gnats, so he returned the favor to Ona by trotting along by her side every waking moment. Once she had even woken up to find Nokki resting next to her under a tree, snoring loudly with his chin squashed onto his chest.

Ona had finally relented and accepted the scrawny boy's attention, though her hope that he would leave her be soon evaporated. No, Nokki was stuck to her, a happy little barb with a shining white grin and warming sense of humor.

Ona sat down cross-legged by her friend and laid a small plate of sweet pastries on his chest. He moaned and giggled at once. "No, Ona! You're going to make me explode! I can't eat anymore..." his voice trailed as he eyed the candy longingly.

She smiled deviously and bit a squishy ball of sweetened dough, swiping her tongue over her lips to catch the drip of gooey filling. She thought Nokki was incredibly predictable when it came to certain things, like food or study habits. Ona rather liked him that way.

The night was cool, so while Ona's parents were relaxing together in the dining room, she and Nokki stepped outside to admire the multitude of stars sprinkled like powdered sugar through the sky. It was a fairly rewarding feeling, to be sitting outside after such an eventful day, bellies full and eyes drooping wearily.

Ona suddenly thought of the boy she had met by the fountain. A bloom of restlessness scattered her drowsiness for a moment, but then she breathed the feeling away with a sigh. She wondered what Haurran was doing right now, if he had ever eaten himself speechless and then gone outside with his best friend to sit in peaceful silence. She wondered if he had any friends. Probably not, if Doric had anything to do with it.

Nokki spewed a long breath, sounding perfectly relaxed. Ona looked at him, half asleep on the deck, fighting to keep his eyes open. She went back inside and tugged a blanket free from the sheet closet, then brought it out to him. He took it without a word.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked as he draped the blanket over himself.

"Not much, just the tournament."

He opened one eye to glare at her. "All you think about is competition. You should think about something else…like how much you want to be a water bender like me."

She laughed. "Go to sleep Nokki. Then I won't bother you anymore."

"You don't…bother…me…" he fell asleep a second after the sentence breezed out of his mouth, and Ona felt like she was alone for the first time that day.

It was ten minutes later when Ona's mother found her on the deck. Ronna touched her daughter's shoulder, and when Ona looked up she held out a small pink flower. "It's a plum blossom," Ronna said. "It's to bring you long life."

Ona smiled and touched the delicate petals. "Thank you. It's lovely."

"Oh, dear, look at him," Ronna said, looking down at Nokki. "For a water bender he certainly sleeps like a rock. Help me carry him inside, please Ona."

Together they lifted Nokki off the deck and eased him back into the house. They laid him on the guest bed, where he spent so many nights that it practically belonged to him, and tucked the blanket up to his chin. Ronna took his jacket and went to hang it up, then paused when she saw one of his bamboo buttons was broken.

"I'll have to fix that for him," she muttered. "Broken bamboo…bad luck."

"You're so superstitious mama," Ona whispered. "Nokki is always lucky."

Ronna held up the jacket. "You know, with the plumb blossom and this bamboo you almost complete the symbolic trio 'three friends in winter.'"

Ona tried to look interested, but her exhaustion made it difficult. She was glad that it was dark in the house so her mother could not see her roll her eyes.

"Yes…all three plants are symbols of long life and perseverance," Ronna went on. "All you would need is pine, and you would be sure to have a strong, unyielding friendship...even in the depths of winter."

Ona was beginning to long for her own bed. "We'll go sit under a pine tree tomorrow then. Good night mama."

Ona dreamed that night of riding waves of water with Nokki, and how his jacket was lost in the storm because his bamboo buttons were all broken. He complimented her on the plumb blossom that she had tucked into her hair, and she said it was a gift from her mother. They could smell pine, and went to find shade under the trees, but they could not see the forest. When she turned around, Ona saw Haurran walking closely beside them, and they realized he was the one who smelled like pine sap.

By breakfast time the next morning she had completely forgotten the dream, remembering only that it had been pleasant and that she wanted to have it again.


	3. Fire, and a Cage for a Mind

~~~~*** Hey everybody, long time no see, right? Okay, well, I had a little computer trouble the last two weeks (and a laziness problem to boot) so this stupid chapter took way too long to write. The illustration to go with it slowed me up a lot too, seeing how I restarted it five or six times. I'm happy with what I've got, so you can go check it out if you want. The link is on my profile, so take a gander if you wish.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you soon! ***~~~

**Update! : New Illustration "Should Have Run" now on my profile!**

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Chapter Three

**Fire, and a Cage for a Mind**

Ona left her small home early the next morning, rushing a kiss on her mother's cheek as she hurried out the small round door. Even though the sun was only peeking over the mountains in the east, the merchant district of the village was as busy as if it were high noon. Ignoring the salesmen stalking each side of the street, Ona pushed and jostled her way through the crowd to the small post office at the bottom of the hill, and slipped gratefully through the dividing curtain into the empty mail room.

The elderly man sitting at the counter looked up as she entered. "Ona, how nice to see you here so early. Expecting another registration form, are you?"

"Of course," she laughed. "I'll be high in the ranking when we go to the Championship, so I'm pretty excited. I hear it's going to be held somewhere in the Earth Kingdom this year."

"Oh?" The old man sorted through a small stack of letters, thumbing over the soft parchment with his careful fingers until he found the paper he was looking for. "Here you are sweetie," he said in his friendly, faltering voice.

Ona had to stop herself from snatching the paper out of his trembling hand. She recognized the insignia at the top of the page instantly, the symbol for the World Cup Championship Tournaments: four rings made of water, fire, stone, and wind respectfully, joined around the letters WCCT, all stained on the sheet in bright blue ink.

She skimmed over the form hastily. It always read the same way: "_Congratulations _Onatha,_ due to your outstanding performance blah, blah, blah…qualified for the Bending World Cup, blah, blah, blah…fill out the required information to register for the tournament…_and so on.

Ona had completed so many registration forms that she hardly had to look at the paper to know where to put her name. She signed it at the bottom, refolded it and handed it back to the old man to be signed and sealed.

While Ona was trying to wipe the ink off her fingertips, the mail man took his time reading over the form.

"Ona…did I hear you say that the Tournament would be held in the Earth Kingdom this year?" he asked.

"That's what I heard. The officials at the local competitions were talking about it months ago."

The old man's face fell as he held out the page to her. "This form says that the competition site has been moved, to an island in the domain of Fire Nation."

"What?" she hissed and read the form over again. The first few paragraphs were the same as they had always been, but after the third came words that she had never seen on a registration form before.

_Participants please note this announcement: The Bending World Cup was previously scheduled to be held on the third week of winter at an as of yet unannounced city in the Earth Kingdom. We wish to inform you that the grounds for the Tournament have been relocated to the Red Isle in the Fire Nation. Please make appropriate arrangements so that you may still participate in the competition. We apologize for any inconvenience. _

"The Red Isle?" Ona muttered. "That's even farther than the Southern Water Tribe, and we barely made it there last year…how…how could I ever get there in time for the competition? I could never afford such a journey."

The old man sighed with her, disappointment heavy in the air between them. Ona put on a brave face and thanked him, though by the time she was back out on the street her misery was as plain as black ink on a white page. Her mind worked furiously, but with the Tournament only a few months away, it was unlikely she could gather enough money to travel to the Red Isle in time. Nothing short of robbing the Earth King's treasury could save her now.

The hollers of the salesmen and merchants annoyed her, though she was reluctant to return home. The relocation of the tournament had put her in a gloomy spirit, and she didn't want to conjure such a dark cloud over the heads of her family. So with hunched shoulders Ona wandered away from the merchant district and through the winding cobbled streets until she found herself trotting on a worn footpath by the river.

As she walked she began to feel the heat of the sun on her shoulders, and by noon a layer of sweat had glued her shirt tightly to her back. She paused and left the trail to pass by the river for a drink. As she lowered her head to the water, she heard the sound of splashing coming from higher uphill.

_Water Bending…_ Ona thought of Basha first, before she realized that the other girl was probably heading home to the Northern Water tribe by this time. Next she wondered if it could be Nokki, for he often woke early to practice his art before the sun was high enough to bake the back of his neck. But her friend was more inclined to practice at the public fountains where he was more of a spectacle.

There were so few water benders in Ona's village, she could not help feeling curious despite her previously dismal state. She stood and crept through the brush in search of the bender, though judging by the way the river water bubbled and surged this stranger was not very skilled.

She had traveled only a dozen yards when she heard voices. One was deep and smooth, and noticeably kind. It calmed her more just to listen to it. "More like this, you see?" it said. "Blend the steps into one flowing movement…not so divided…there, that's better."

The second voice cut in, sharp and pointed as a knife. Ona recognized its high nosed tone instantly. "Master, could we please end this lesson before we all shrivel up in the heat? He is obviously not getting anywhere today."

"That is not true, Master Doric," reprimanded the first voice, "Haurran has shown significant improvement through the course of his lessons. He is well on his way to mastering this element."

Ona lowered herself to the ground so she could crawl closer to the argument without being seen. She moved slowly, placing every step with measured precision. She looked up as Doric spoke again, as this time he was addressing Haurran.

"You do realize we are breaking the natural order by teaching you water bending now," he grumbled. "The least you could do is make an effort to master it."

"_I'm trying,"_ Haurran pleaded, "_it's just difficult."_ It took Ona a few seconds to understand why Doric didn't respond, but she remembered abruptly that Haurran had not actually said anything out loud. She was the only one who could hear him. The thought made her shiver.

Haurran made several signs to Doric with his fingers, and the tall man seemed to take them as an answer. None of the movements made any sense to Ona, as they were only somewhat similar to the symbol language that she had seen taught to the mute and deaf in other towns or villages. This seemed to be a completely different language.

"It doesn't matter," Doric sighed, "there is no way we can change who you are, only prepare you to be that person and hope it all sticks." Ona could see his cold eyes flashing even from behind the bush. "Gather your things then. We need to break camp if we are to get anywhere at all today."

She listened to his footsteps as they faded away through the trees, and soon the only sounds were the bubbling of the stream and the swish of leaves in a light breeze. Haurran was so quiet, Ona began to wonder if he had left the river side, so she poked her head up over the bush to look.

He had not left, nor had he moved since Doric had walked away. Haurran stood where he was, up to his ankles in the cold, clear water, staring down at his feet. His long bangs cast a shadow over his already sunken eyes, making his expression seem even more forlorn and pained. Though she could not hear any specific words, Ona could feel Haurran's frustration biting at her own mind, and she could not help but feel profoundly sorry for him.

Slowly, she raised her head above the bush, straightening until she was standing at her full height and looking back at him from the opposite side of the river. Then she softly called out his name.

"Haurran, over here," she said. "Look over here!"

His eyes widened when he saw her, looking more fearful than surprised. She waved to him.

"_Ona?" _He wondered, and wagged his hand back.

She edged out of the bushes until she stood on the bank by the flowing water, close enough to see her blurred reflection. She thought that she looked grotesquely frumpy and heavy, and she self-consciously tugged at her dark green robes, hoping that Haurran's silence only meant he was shy.

"Having some trouble?" she asked.

The boy eyed her nervously. She could feel his thoughts conflicting, sense his struggle to form a response. It seemed he wasn't sure that he could answer.

"I can still hear what you're thinking," Ona coxed, "or at least the words you focus on. Just pretend you're talking to me."

"_Will that really work?" _Haurran's voice rang out as clearly as if he had actually spoken. Ona smiled at him and nodded to confirm it. He looked stunned.

She frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"_I've…j-just never had a conversation with someone before. Not like this. It's…w-weird."_

"Oh, I was actually talking about your water bending. You seem to be having a little trouble with it."

Haurran blushed, a deep red blooming on his tanned face. His lips tightened and a gentle wave of embarrassment broke over Ona's mind. She smiled again, trying to soothe him so the feeling would leave her.

"Don't worry about it too much," she eased, "no element is easy to master. My friend is a water bender, and he's always complaining about how difficult it can be."

Haurran's thick eyebrows bent down, and he pursed his lips at the river water. _"My masters are probably about to give up on me. I-it's like I'm a child who can't learn to walk."_

"Well, it's much harder to bend moving water, especially for beginners," Ona murmured. "I thought most teachers knew that."

"_I have a good master," _Haurran told her, _"but water can be difficult to find in the Earth Kingdom. We often have to settle for streams and rivers. It's not like in the water tribes, where you eat, sleep, and walk on water every day."_

Ona looked at him and tilted her head. "I know of a place. A small pond where my friend likes to practice. There aren't many people who know about it, so you wouldn't be bothered."

"_I don't know if my masters would go for that…" _he thought, looking a trifle exasperated. He paused, seemed to be brooding over something, then turned to Ona as if he had a question on his lips. _"How… far away is this place?"_

"Not that far…" She jerked her thumb over her back. "About a mile or so downriver."

Haurran watched her for a long moment, his thoughts a whirlwind that she could feel but not read. Slowly he turned and looked up the river bank where his water bending teacher and Doric had gone. Finally, he sighed. _"They won't miss me. Let's go."_

Ona felt her eyes widen as Haurran walked toward her. "Really?" she squeaked. "Won't they be upset if they find out you took off without telling them?"

"_I've decided that I don't care. Come on, before Doric wanders back down here."_

"Uh…" Ona stammered, "O-okay."

It was clear that Haurran was serious about leaving, for he only paused so that Ona could tell him where to go before he continued on steadily. Glancing uneasily over her shoulder she followed him. For a while they walked in silence, listening to the gentle chorus of the forest ringing around them. It was nearly ten minutes into their journey when Ona decided to speak what was on her mind.

"I've been wanting to talk to you…" she started, unsure of how to go on.

Haurran stepped up on a tall root and looked around at the trees. _"…about how you can hear me, even though I've never been able to speak?"_

"Yeah, about that." She watched him hop down from the root, biting her lip. "Do you have any idea why it's happening? Have you ever seen...or, um, heard this before?"

_"Nope. I've never experienced anything like it. Completely new."_

"Same for me," Ona muttered. "I guess it might make sense if you were the Avatar…but…"

Haurran spun around, his eyebrows raised. _"Okay…Let's say I was the Avatar. What then?"_

"Well…my parents told me that when I was an infant I was completely deaf," Ona said. "The Avatar saw my father win an earth bending tournament, and was so impressed that she came to our home to congratulate him..."

Huarran grinned. _"Avatar Brota always did love a good competition. She was a fiery one, and very beautiful when she was young."_

"You know about her? She grew up in the Southern Water tribe. Did you live there too?"

"_No,"_ he shrugged. _"I was born in the northern Earth Kingdom. But anyway…did the Avatar heal you when she visited your home?"_

Ona nodded. "She entered the Spirit World right there in my room. She interceded to the spirits, asking them to gift me with the ability to hear…'with profound clarity and understanding'. Or so she said. In any case, I've been able to hear just fine ever since then. I always felt that I had a connection to her after that, so that would explain how I could hear you, if you were the Avatar that is."

Haurran only flashed a smile at her, then looked ahead. "Is that the pond up there?"

They had to scramble down into a small valley to reach the water, but there the shade was deeper and the noon air was noticeably cooler.

"_This is perfect," _Haurran exclaimed. _"I can already tell this will make water bending so much easier. Thank you, Ona."_

She appreciated his gratefulness, but at the same time she was apprehensive about his masters. She hoped they wouldn't realize Haurran had left until the two of them were already back at the river side. Doric would be furious, that much was certain.

Standing just by the pond, Haurran took up his practice stance. Carefully, he slowed his breathing and closed his eyes. Ona could feel his mind settle into calm, and she admired his absolute control over his thoughts. After several minutes Haurran relaxed his shoulders, lifted his arms, and raised the water.

Though not as smooth as a master, Haurran seemed to have a significant understanding of water bending already. As he swirled the dripping water around his back and over his arms, Ona realized that he was definitely not a beginner, and wondered why he had struggled so much by the river.

She decided to leave him be, so that he could practice in peace. Sitting down by a tree, Ona placed her hands onto the ground and focused on the earth under fingers, gradually entering a state of meditation. Her father had told her long ago that the best earth benders were the ones who were in tune with the ground they were working. He had shown her how to forge that connection, though he also said it was something that took patience, persistence, and practice.

Ona did her best to cast her more frivolous thoughts away so she could concentrate on what the soil was telling her. She eased into a removed sense of clarity after a time, until she was aware of every pebble, every stone and worm under the grass. She knew every root and where it went to, and each of the trees and their ages were as clear as the sun-scorched sky. Somewhere a digger mouse was making a nest, and she sensed the pattering of deer as the dashed through the brush.

"_**Ona…"**_

Huarran's voice smashed into her thoughts like an explosion. The sheer volume of sound sent a red streak across her vision, and she had to battle for a full breath. When she looked up her watering eyes could not focus, and all she could see were smeared colors and freakish shapes plastered around her on every side. Above it all she could her a multitude of words, as if a thousand people were speaking right into her ears, a thousand people who sounded just like Haurran.

Nothing they said made any sense. Ona could make out only a few words from each voice, and the rest were a horrible, loud murmuring that buzzed violently in her mind. _"Deeper…quiet, silence" _they said_, "dark, dark…and her, she there…black, dark eyes…thousands…millions, weight, break…night, and all alone…alone, and quiet…see true? There…all alone…night upon, where…there...alone, see? …deep, and dark…quiet, and all alone there…"_

Abruptly all the words fell quiet. Ona's ears were ringing, but she was no longer in pain. A shadow fell over her, and when she raised her eyes she saw Haurran above, looking down. "_And…wouldn't it be nice if I could go nowhere?" _he seemed to say.

"_Ona, wake up. Time to wake up…" _

She opened her eyes, and the quiet of the forest hit her like a falling stone. Confused, she looked around at the deep red sky and the dark shadows, the sun setting behind the trees. She felt a touch on her shoulder, and whirled on Haurran. He was crouching next to her and pressing a finger to his lips.

"What happened?" she whispered.

"_Don't know, but listen. It's late, and we're being watched…"_

"What?"

He tried to quiet her, but it was too late. They heard a rustling in the trees, and a dozen men clothed in spotless white robes dropped from the branches overhead. They landed silently, but Ona could see them just fine in the twilight, and she could see the formidable weapons they held at their waists.

Her mouth was dry, her body cold, but she managed to speak. "Who…are they?"

"_Trouble…" _Haurran answered gravely. "_We need to find my masters. Quickly."_

He pulled up on Ona's wrists until she rocked onto her feet. His grip on her arm was firm, though Ona could not feel any emotions coming from Haurran at all. It was as if he had manufactured a wall around himself that she could not see.

The strangers were creeping closer to them, the threatening ring closing tighter by small increments. Some of the men already held their weapons; bright blades and solid staffs clutched in rock-like fists. Their eyes were cold, and the shadows along their faces long and pointed as their swords.

"We're here for the Avatar," one of them said. Ona couldn't tell which, as they were all wearing masks. The statement confused her, and she didn't have the nerve to answer. She kept thinking that Haurran was squeezing her arm too tightly; she couldn't earth bend if he held onto her like this.

"_Ona," _Haurran said, grabbing for her attention_. "When I tell you to, I want you to run for those trees to the left. Don't stop, just run. Understand?"_

"What are you standing there for?"Another voice shouted at them. The man jabbed his sword at them, then went on to speak in a tone laden with impatience and something like mockery. "We know you're not deaf, boy. Or don't you understand what we're saying? You're coming with us. Leave the girl, and walk this way."

Haurran stared at the men directly ahead, his gaze unflinching. Ona could hear him breathe in, and she flinched as he took an incredibly deep, lung stretching breath that seemed to be sucking the air away from her own lips. Haurran bent the fingers of his free hand into a claw shape, and then flicked his wrist so fast that the movement could hardly be seen.

And just like that, flames, hot and strikingly bright leapt from his fingertips. He swung his arm out, and the fire followed in a burning arch out over the heads of the strangers, sending nearly half their rank straight to the dirt.

"_GO! ONA!" _Haurran commanded.

At first Ona was too stunned to move. Her mouth hung open, hot, dry air numbing her lips as she stared. Haurran was next to her, dancing massive flames around the pond, striking at the strangers like a vicious, heated warrior with a depth of malice in his eyes. Where was the boy who had struggled so reverently just to bend moving water? She could only guess that he had been consumed by the very flames that were now whipping through the sky, burning the trees, the ground, and scorching the very air.

Haurran was a fire bender…and from the way he repeatedly blasted away every attack that came barreling toward him, he was a good one. One of the strange men managed to evade a fire ball, and charged at Haurran with a glowing sword clutched in his hand.

The sword lashed out, but instead of dodging it Haurran stepped toward the blade. Ona was sure the sword had passed right through him, but then she realized that he had twisted just enough for the metal to slide past his side. Now deep inside the other man's range, Haurran took a clear shot at his enemy's chest. The man flew backwards like a bullet, fire blooming around him like a horrible flower with wild, blood red vines that whirled around his body.

Ona choked on the smoke and the bulging scent of burnt trees and clothing and hair. Haurran must have heard her gasping, for he whirled on her, spearing her with a monstrously ferocious glare that drove out what breath small she had.

"_**Why**__ are you still here?" _His voice roared. He glanced over his shoulder, then ceased her arm and began to drag her backwards into the trees. _"Use your feet Ona! Run!"_

He shoved her forward, and this time she stumbled into a dash. Behind her she could make out the grumbling of earth moving, and feel the heat of blazing fire on her back. She kept her feet high as she ran, hoping every time she stepped that she would not trip.

Ona ran until her lungs were pleading for air, and then she slowed to a weakened stop by a sturdy tree. She fell against it and filled her bruised lungs to bursting. Soon she could feel the cuts on her cheeks from twigs or branches that had slapped her face as she ran, though the stinging from the scratches on her legs was much more annoying.

Surprisingly, the silence in the wood frightened her. The sun had nearly set, and she didn't like the way the trees had begun to look more like places for bloodthirsty assassins to hide behind than charming foliage. In any case, when she heard Haurran's gentle footsteps approaching, she could not have been more relieved.

From the pale looks of his skin and the fright in his wide eyes, it seemed he was glad to have found her also. All his former malice had evaporated, smoothly replaced by cold fear.

"_They left…" _he said, as if he had to force the words. _"I don't know if I chased them away, or if they're just making a tactical retreat…but, we should not stay here. We need to get back to the river."_

Looking at him, stunned by this drastic change in his mood, Ona suddenly felt angry. She stepped toward him and shoved her face close by his, forcing him to look at her.

"Why didn't you tell me you could fire bend?" she wheezed, still breathless. "Why…didn't you _tell_ me you are the Avatar?"

He didn't raise his head, preferring to watch the ground. Ona could hear nothing from him, but her own words were enough to fill the silence.

"I've…seen a lot of fire benders. I've _competed_ against a **lot** of fire benders. And I can tell you…I have never…never seen fire bending like that before in my life." She paused, swallowed a breath, and backed away a single step. "What you were doing back there…was incredible. Incredible, and it was terrifying. How can you wield that much strength? You can't…you can't control fire that hot, that powerful! Unless of course…you are the Avatar. Then it just comes naturally to you, doesn't it?"

"_You don't understand," _Haurran answered softly. He seemed tired.

Ona already felt ashamed, but that only made her words harsher. "I thought you were going to _kill_ those men. I thought you were going to kill **me!"** She felt her face burn red, and her hands were shaking so much they made her feel weak. "You…you could have at least _warned _me. You could have said _something! _Anything!"

He raised his eyes to her. She could see the spark of temper starting to glow inside him; it made her nervous. _"I couldn't tell you. Do you think it's something I can just go around blurting out to everyone I meet?"_

"It's funny," Ona prodded, "I was just starting to think you trusted me."

Haurran spat to the side, exasperated. _"You want to go there do you? What do you want me to say? I do trust you, Ona, as much as I can. But what you don't get is that no one is supposed to know I'm the Avatar. Do you want me to say I'm sorry? Well, I am. I'm sorry I didn't…I couldn't warn you. I'm sorry you dragged yourself into this."_

"What?" That was unbelievable. "I didn't drag myself into this! You act like you had no part in it, and you were the one who came to me first!"

Haurran was grinding his teeth. _"Before I knew you could hear what I'm thinking! Ona, why can't you accept that I couldn't tell you who I was? I already said I was sorry."_

"But you didn't mean it," she retorted coldly. "If you really were sorry, that means you would go back and change how you acted if you had the chance. But I know you wouldn't change a thing."

"_That's not what sorry means."_

"What else could it possibly mean?"

Huarran was pale, anger like white fire behind his placid face. "_Maybe it means I'm feeling sorry for __**myself**__."_

"That's ridiculous," Ona scoffed at him, completely incredulous. "Why would you ever feel sorry for yourself? You're the Avatar! You've been given the power of all four elements, you're beloved by thousands of people just for breathing. You're already famous, and you haven't even done anything!"

"_You don't __**know**__ anything!" _Haurran shouted, his voice echoing loud in Ona's mind. The sensation made her dizzy, but she bit her lip and stood up straighter. "_You think being the Avatar is so great, well then here's a surprise for you! It's not anything like you think. It's nothing but one long, impossible struggle. People have their stupid expectations, their demands, their all consuming desires and ambitions, and I'm supposed to find some way to make the whole world peaceful? That's what ridiculous!"_

Ona was beginning to feel like she was stuck on a small boat and riding on a tumbling ocean. Haurran's distress was so potent she could feel it in her own bones. His voice was a hammer pounding her mind, his anger a stabbing fire, and his hysterical fear an endless pit she was about to fall into. She wanted him to stop shouting at her, before the full wave of his emotion sucked her down into the dark where she would drown.

But he couldn't stop. These were things he had never been able to express, words he had never been able to tell anyone. They had released a flood, and Ona knew Haurran was just as scared as she was.

"_You know what?" _he raged on, _"If you think my life is such a good time, then why don't you be the Avatar, huh? Then you can be the one the whole world relies on! Then you can be the one who walks into a room and turns all the heads, and when all your friends and family put their faces on the floor to bow to you, like your some kind of god, then you can be the one who stares at them, and you can know that you have never been so alone in your whole wretched life!"_

Ona hit the ground, holding her head in her hands and sobbing out loud. Her mind felt frayed, and she couldn't focus on anything except the splinter of pain driving into her skull. Haurran stood where he was, sweating in his fear and crushing shame. Ona rocked herself into a tight ball, welcoming the cool of the night as the sun full set behind the mountains. She couldn't speak or move her head for what seemed like hours.

She felt Haurran approach her. It was the humming sense of his apprehension that told her he was reaching out his hand, but she still jumped when he touched her shoulder.

"_Ona?"_

Even that hurt. She winced and slapped his hand away. "STOP! Just stop trying to talk to me Haurran! Please… You're killing me…"

He kept himself quiet. Ona wept into her fist, knowing she was ripping at his heart by ignoring him. She guessed that Haurran was truly a gentle soul, though not a pure one. He had a temper, and no way to release it. What else could she expect? People scream when they get angry, they screech their frustration into the sky and until it leaves them. Haurran had only done the same, except it had been Ona he had ranted to, and the pressure he released had been so great it had wounded them both.

She felt sorry for him. She had caught a glimpse of the misery he roamed in, shut up inside himself with no one to talk to. But, although she knew it would only be one more painful blow, she knew that she had to get away from him.

"The river is…straight to the west," she breathed, not looking up. "When you reach it, go upriver, about a mile, and you'll find the bank where you were training. If your masters are not there, the main road is directly west of the river. Follow it into town."

He didn't speak, only stared and tried to bore his regret into her with his eyes. Then he got up, turned and walked away, not even daring to look back.


	4. Downhill

~~~~*** Hoy! Welcome to Chapter Four! If you made it this far, you are now my favorite person ever. I owe you a prize, if only I knew who you were...

Alright, there is a **_new illustration_**, but it does not go with this chapter. You can look at it if you want though. It may spoil some things, but that's only if you don't see it coming...but whatever. Review? See ya soon? ***~~~~

* * *

"_I was the clueless one, even from the start. I remember running around in circles every day, hoping that I could stumble upon a solution. Of course, all that did was make me sick to my stomach."_

-Nokki

**Chapter Four**

**Downhill**

The moon had been hanging in the star sprinkled sky for some time when Ona finally gathered the strength to head home. She felt sick with exhaustion, worn in both body and spirit. It didn't help that whenever she closed her stinging eyes all she could see was Haurran's face, anger distorting the gentle lines around his eyes, turning him almost beastly. The memory of flames spinning around his shoulders was so raw she thought she could feel their warmth even now.

The walk through town stole her remaining strength, and she soon collapsed onto the lip of a large fountain in the main square, eager for a rest.

Her eyes were closed when she felt someone drop down next to her. With a surge of fright she whipped her head around to look at this stranger, thinking one of the assassins in white had returned.

But it was only Nokki sitting there, grinning at her frightened expression.

"Gosh, Ona," he laughed, "since when do you spook so easily. I thought you'd be happy to see me!"

She faked a smile. "Sorry. It's been a rough day. I…" she hesitated, wondering what to tell him. "I found out that the World Cup Tournament is not going to be in the Earth Kingdom; it'll be held on the Red Isle instead."

Nokki stared at her, trying to seem like he understood what that meant. The plain ignorance on his face made Ona laugh for real. "The Red Isle is practically on the other side of the world from where we are," she explained. "It'll be next to impossible to make it there in time. Not with the money we have."

"Well, don't give up yet!" Nokki chimed. "I'll bet if we both spend the next few months working, we can earn enough money to travel to the Fire Nation. I know we can do it! I heard that old cobbler on the northside pays a ton to helpers, so let's go talk to him tomorrow and—"

"Nokki," Ona sighed, "it'll take years to earn enough money by doing odd jobs." He looked subtly crestfallen, so she patted his back reassuringly. "It was a good idea though. Very helpful."

He smiled at her, his cheeks bulging enough to make his bright eyes squint. He jumped to his feet, suddenly inspired. "Hey, I've got an idea! Let's go grab some dinner at the Dragon Edge! The special tonight is spicy miso, your favorite!"

Ona thought about arguing the way she normally did, and it was obvious that Nokki expected her to. So it was understandable how he was surprised when she stood up and linked her arm with his, enthusiastically agreeing to go with him.

Together they skipped down to the colorful restaurant and spent the night eating spiced soup, roasted meats and gulping fruity beverages until their stomachs were stretched like balloons. Their server eventually rushed them out with suggestive glares and curt responses to their questions about his mood.

They left the restaurant with euphoric spirits, giggling themselves dizzy as they strolled through the park. It was nearing midnight, and the night was alive with the sounds of creatures buzzing around in the dark, or swooping randomly through the black sky.

Ona had kept herself at peace through sheer will power earlier in the night, though she found that Nokki was an easy distraction. By the time they had paused at the crest of a stone bridge to gaze at the river, she had nearly forgotten about Haurran and the violent men in white.

And that was why, as her eyes caught a glimpse of a strikingly white coat hiding in the branches of a near-by tree she decided to ignore it. Her stomach tightened, but she told herself to stop being silly and looked away. Nokki was rattling off some old joke that had been told a thousand times, laughing at every word he spoke.

Ona tried to laugh with him, but her mirth seemed to shrivel in her chest. Her eyes flicked back to the tree, but the white spot was gone. Somehow that didn't help her feel any better.

"Ona, what's the matter with you?" Nokki chuckled. He prodded her with his fingers, trying to get a reaction.

But she was too nervous to smile. She knew it would probably be better if she just pretended not to have seen the assassin's coat; that she and Nokki would be better off if she humored him and played along. If she didn't give anything away, maybe they wouldn't be bothered.

The swish of leaves alerted her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a man, followed by several more, stepping out of the shadows. Nokki became oddly still, and she knew he had seen them too.

The men halted before the bridge. Ona refused to look at them, hoping in some small part of her mind that if she didn't acknowledge them, they would all go away. Of course, she had no such success.

One of the men, a tall and youthful figure who seemed to be the head of the band, crossed his arms and laughed aloud. The sound perfectly complimented the cruelly sardonic twist of his lips.

"Ona, dear," he said conversationally, "I had been told you were a stubborn sort, but I had no idea you could be such a spiteful young woman. Not even a hello for me?"

Nokki looked at her, confusion written over every edge of his face. "Do you know these guys?"

"No," Ona shook her head. "But they're dangerous, Nokki. They attacked me and Haurran—"

"Ah, so you were with him today," the man broke in. He cocked his jaw, seeming thoughtful except for the speck of proud omniscience in his eyes. "I had to trust the words of my men, as I was not…available this morning to watch you myself. I see they were not lying."

Ona bit her lip, failing to impose calm on own her mind. "What…do you want?" she asked weakly.

"Well, we want the Avatar, of course," the man laughed. "To be more specific, our employer wants the Avatar, though we don't get the other half of our payment until we deliver him. In any case, we need to find your little friend…quickly."

Ona noticed that her knuckles were white, and she wondered remotely why she couldn't feel her nails indenting the palm of her hand. "Haurran is not here," she murmured. "I don't think you'll ever see him around me again, so you can just walk off now and leave us alone."

"Frankly, I don't know why he spent so much time with you at all," the man continued, as if Ona had not said anything. "I heard that you were talking to him, carrying on conversation as if he could answer you. You did realize he's mute, right? Or were you just mocking him? Were you flaunting the heartbreaking fact that he could never speak to you?"

Ona didn't know how to answer. How could she explain that she and Haurran really could talk to each other? Or did that gleam in the man's eye mean that he already knew this too?

Suddenly feeling brave and defiant, Nokki shouldered his way toward the strangers and jabbed a finger in at their leader's nose. "Now listen," he barked, "I don't know who you guys think you are, but you have no business waltzing over here and harassing us. Ona and I have nothing to do with you, so why don't you just slink back into the woods and leave us alone?"

The stranger's eyes flashed, suddenly icy. His smile fell into a deep scowl as he regarded the young boy accusing him, and Nokki's audacity visibly withered under the weighty gaze.

The man spat to the side. "And who are you? A boyfriend perhaps? Goodness, Ona, Haurran won't be happy to hear about this."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ona stuttered. Her mouth was so dry she could barely speak.

The grin returned to the man's face. "I really don't understand it. How could you be getting this much attention with the way you look? Such a blank, unattractive appearance, and yet you're playing more than one lad's heartstrings. I am truly dumbfounded. "

Ona stared at him. His horrible confidence was like looking into the eyes of a lion, knowing its claws were about to shred her out of existence. Her body felt like stone, yet her heartbeat was so fast she could barely feel it. It was seconds later when she realized that Nokki was still arguing with the man, and stupidly ignoring the look of malice on his face.

Ona saw the attack in the man's eyes, the intention clear enough to read before he even moved. With one quick step the stranger lunged at Nokki, a hard fist darting up from underneath to drive into weak muscle. Nokki barely had time to react, but he managed to step back enough for the strike to slide split inches short of his stomach. The next moment the man was coming at him again, another fist aimed at the youth's wild head of blonde hair.

This time Nokki moved away faster, throwing himself toward the edge of the bridge in his rush to escape. He flung his arms over the side, and then wind-milled them back up again, towing a fat stream of water up over the rail and right into the path of the stranger's attack.

The water turned to ice around the man's arm and his hand instantly fell from the weight. Nokki stumbled back, ready for another punch to come his way. Surprisingly the stranger did not persist in the attack, but only stared at his arm and frowned.

The other men behind him all moved at once. They advanced toward Nokki with clear malicious intent, weapons sliding out of their cloaks, their teeth bared. Ona sensed more of them coming up from behind, but when she looked she could only see shadows. She felt sick and breathless from fear.

"Hold up you idiots," shouted the man, and all the others stopped where they were. The leader ground his teeth and lifted his frozen arm in front of him. "I wasn't expecting that," he grunted angrily at Nokki, and closed his eyes. As they watched in fearful silence, the tube of ice around his forearm began to vibrate, and a feeling of trembling seemed to descend on the bridge.

All at once the ice starburst into a downpour of hundreds of pointed shards. The tiny frozen darts rained down on the children, pricking their skin with small, icy cuts while cold fragments stung their wide eyes. The moonlight glittered on the splinters and in the stranger's fanatically enraged eyes, crafting a scene as beautiful as it was terrifying.

The man attacked again, looking more like an animal than a person as he charged at Nokki and Ona, his hands thrusting forward and a frenzied howl crashing through his teeth. Nokki attempted to create a defense with the river water, but he was suddenly blown off his feet as if a gust of wind had rammed his chest. He soared back, then slapped onto the stone bridge hard enough to lose his breath. He lay numb and still where he had landed at Ona's feet, struggling even to inhale. Ona felt just as frozen, standing by and watching as if she were powerless.

The stranger continued his charge, but after a few steps he suddenly leapt up, rising quickly to an inhuman height above their heads. He whirled his arms, and then shoved them straight down toward the bridge. Instantly a powerful whirlwind dropped from over head and caught around Nokki where he lay like a turtle on his back. The wind spun the small boy like a top, around and around so fast that his body became a little more than yellow-blue blur. Suddenly the small twister vanished, and Nokki was launched across the clearing faster than an arrow. Ona heard him holler as he flew backwards several yards, but the sound cut off with a grunt and a dreadful thump as he hit a tree and crashed into the mud.

Ona heard rapid footsteps next, and turned as all of the white-clad assassins rushed over the bridge toward her. Somehow she knew it was not her they had it in for. In the crucial seconds she had Ona picked up her heavy feet and dashed to Nokki's side, her mind and body completely separated by adrenaline.

Even months later Ona could not explain what she did next, nor would she ever understand how the thought had occurred to her, but the moment she reached her friend she threw her arms around in a wide curve, summoning earth to wrap around his prone form. The soil arched over him, creating a sphere that Ona quickly and desperately solidified just as the assassins descended on her.

They were all around, a full circle of dangerous, well-armed men glaring at her through the gaps in their spotless masks. Their leader was among them, shouting something to her but Ona easily ignored his threats as her mind locked tightly with panic.

When they started attacking, Ona reacted as if she would if she were standing on a competition field, the critical eyes of the judges dissecting her every move and the stands speckled with a few hundred weary onlookers. She dodged oncoming strikes and raised walls of earth as a shield, though they seemed frighteningly frail to her. She found herself constantly backpedaling and wanting to push the opponents away so she could have room to move, room just to breathe.

It wasn't long before Ona realized how incredibly outmatched she was. These men swiped their glowing weapons at her faster than any of her young opponents, and with an infinitely greater malevolence. The fact that they were actually trying to kill her was both plain and incomprehensible. In all the matches Ona had fought her opponents had competed fiercely, but without this wild, killer's intent that came off every one of the assassins in waves. She kept expecting them to hold back, and when they didn't she found herself scrambling to get out of the way.

Finally the assassins closed in on her. It didn't take long, but Ona was soon immobilized by strong hands on her arms and cold metal that hovered only centimeters away from her bare skin. She trembled as the men pressed in on her, searching wildly for an escape. Her flanks were securely blocked, and there was no realistic way she could go up and not hurt herself in the process.

She glanced to the ground, uncertain. The leader of the assassins was screaming again, a fat vein swelling on the corner of his burning-red face. Spit foamed around his shining lips. Ona could not wrench her eyes away from him; anger like this was so foreign to her, but it was oddly fascinating at the same time.

But then he was getting too close. All the loathing in his presence was suffocating, paralyzing, and consuming. Driven by her reckless need to escape him, Ona thoughtlessly moved to her only means of escape. She jutted her chin down, pressed the ground with her toes, and felt herself sink straight into the darkness under the earth.


	5. Away From Me

**~~~**** **Okay, I've decided to go ahead an post the next chapter, only because some brave reader went through and read all of the previous 4 chapters today. **Dear reader! I have no idea who you are, but I want to thank you!** Your intrest is a gift beyond measure. Please, I have other chapters that I never posted because I lost faith in this story (having no readers is hard, you know?) but if you want to read on, **TELL ME! **For this will be that last chapter of this story if I don't hear a request from anyone.

Happy reading, all the same. See ya soon!******~~~**

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"_That boy had a reckless streak as long as any river, but just like everything else, he kept it buried with ease. His face was always unreadable, and I came to believe that he preferred it that way. He had lived in isolation his entire life because of the way Doric taught him. What use did he have for other people, when he could never communicate with them?"_

-Master Toka, water bending teacher to Avatar Haurran

**Chapter Five**

**Away From Me**

Many long seconds came and went before Ona realized where she had put herself. She was underground, stuck in a small pocket of solid dirt with no light, and little air. If she hadn't been panicked already, she would probably have fainted.

But Ona was in good standing with pressure. She handled stress fairly well in most circumstances, and actually managed to calm herself down considerably while she sat in the small hole, breathing hot, dirty air. Remembering Nokki, she decided to try and reach him.

Ona shifted around in a small circle, feeling out the right direction in the solid dark. When she thought she knew where to go, she shoved her hands forward and blasted away the hard earth in front of her, creating a short tunnel that she could crawl through. She repeated the movement several times, checking her distance between each extension of the tunnel.

Ona knew that she would have to resurface in exactly the right place in order to survive this ordeal. If she didn't emerge inside Nokki's earth barrier the assassins standing by would surely cut her down, or at least take her captive. Neither option particularly appealed to her.

Finally, when she felt she had reached the exact place where Nokki lay, or at least as close as she could tell, she pressed the palms of her hands into the ground over her head, and began to crumble it away. Soon she had to stand up just to reach the ceiling, and she marveled at how far down in the earth she had managed to drive herself. Eventually her fingers were brushing air; she had broken the surface. But, where would she come up?

Her heart began to hammer again as she felt the touch of soft fabric with her fingertips. She wanted to shrink away, but forced herself to explore farther in the dark. She realized the cloth must have belonged to Nokki; she recognized the soft fur embroidery that decorated his shirtfront, though now the pretty white fluff was wet and brown with mud.

Relieved, Ona summoned a stand of earth to elevate her up into the sphere. She searched around in the dark with her hands until she found her friend, lying on his stomach by her left knee. Gently she touched his face and whispered his name, but got no response from him. Poor Nokki was out cold.

Just as Ona was tugging the small boy onto her shoulders, prepared to carry him through her hand-made underground tunnel, there suddenly came a loud clamor outside. Fright surged back into her veins. The assassins were trying to break down the sphere, or…judging by the scrapping sounds to her side, they were trying to dig underneath it.

Ona nearly scoffed at them, but the next moment an enormous explosion rang out, the sound so loud it sent a spike of pain through her skull. Ona was driven back as the sphere disintegrated and collapsed, the air around her suddenly choked with heavy smoke.

_Blasting jelly! _Ona thought wildly. She should have known these killers would carry explosives. Now she was paying dearly for her ignorance, for in one fiery moment the bomb had stolen all her sense and strength. She couldn't think or process what she was seeing, and she certainly couldn't act. She felt glued to the ground, a sensation that was swiftly growing old, if not annoying. But there was nothing she could do. She clung to Nokki as she imagined the assassins stepping in closer, swords raised and ready to strike, and wished desperately that she had not been so confident in the sphere's strength. If only she had acted more quickly there, where at least she had been protected for a time. Perhaps she could have saved them both from this awful fate of steel, and smoke and blood.

All at once a loud rumbling shook the ground, and a wing of darkness swooped up over her head from behind. In an instant the world seemed to go dark and quiet, all noise and sight suddenly blocked. Ona slowly peeped open her eyes, but saw only blackness around her, though she could smell the ancient scent of dirt in the air. Gradually she determined that she was inside of yet another earth sphere, though it was gravely unclear where it had come from.

Many thoughts raged in her mind. She wondered if the assassins were using the earthy ball as a cage, and if not, how long would it take them to blast this one open as they had the first? She was glad that Nokki was not conscious to feel her nervous fingers burrowing into his arm, although she would have been glad for his company.

Just as the thought to break the sphere apart herself arose, Ona and Nokki were suddenly thrown forward as the ball jerked into a frontward roll. The children tumbled around helplessly inside as the sphere gained speed, as if it had been pushed over the edge of a steep hill. Ona lost all sense of direction as she was flipped over and upside down, all the muscles in her body being beaten and strained at once. She jabbed Nokki countless times as she toppled over him, and every time the ball pulled a sharp turn she found herself hugging him tighter out of sheer fright.

The sphere seemed to roll for miles, and at times Ona was sure it had gone airborne. Her throat was tender from the terrified hollers that had echoed out of her mouth, and every inch of skin on her body felt sorely battered from the violent ride.

She expected the ball to roll to a gradual stop, but was given instead a forceful jolt as the sphere abruptly hauled its reeling advancement.

Shaking from pain and nausea, Ona squeezed Nokki to her side and shut her eyes tightly. As the rounded dirt surrounding her fell away, she felt a familiar presence in her mind. The realization of who was nearby gave her both relief and anxiety, and she was reluctant to lift her gaze to look at him.

But then Haurran knelt in front of her and fretfully pulled the sweat-soaked hair away from her face. He seemed just as scared as she was as he begged for her attention, though there was something oddly calming in his manner. Panic didn't seem to be an emotion Haurran could truly muster.

"_Ona…Ona are you alright?" _he pleaded. _"Are you hurt? What about your friend? Ona I need you to look at me; I want to help you, but you have to let me."_

She debated giving him an answer at all, afraid that she might vomit her heavy dinner if she opened her mouth. Some part of her was still angry with Haurran, and that same part didn't really care if he got stomach acid all over his shirt, in fact, he probably deserved it. She was still wrestling with herself when Nokki groaned and shuttered back into consciousness.

"Uhhhhgg," he moaned, "what happened?"

Ona helped him sit up, worried by the cloud-white pallor on his cheeks. "That's what I'd like to know."

Sitting back, Haurran shrugged and answered, _"I had to do something. You guys were stranded, so I used earth bending to move you. Sorry for the rough ride."_

"I feel sick," Ona complained. "Sick, and exhausted and like I've had my muscles pounded by a meat cleaver. You couldn't have thought of a…kinder way to rescue us?"

His lips pressed together apologetically, though laughter glinted behind his eyes. _"I guess that's as close as I'll get to a thank you," _he joked half-heartedly.

It took a long while for Ona to recover from her trip inside the sphere, though Nokki was much slower to mend, most likely due to his beating by the assassins.

Haurran was a surprisingly skilled and patient healer. He got up and fetched water whenever it was required, lent a sturdy arm for his friends to cling to as they attempted to walk off their aliment, and was nothing short of doting as they moaned and grumbled back at him for his efforts.

As the night wore on Ona became increasingly annoyed, but mostly with herself. She wanted to be furious with Haurran, she wanted to bite at every word he sent into her head, to scold him for his foolishness. However all of her nagging and objections made her feel more and more like a child, which only served to make her grouchiness grow to greater levels.

Haurran calmly explained how he had followed Ona's directions through the wood, but had decided not to return to his masters when he reached the river. He said that despite his fear, he was laden with guilt for abusing Ona's trust and had decided to find her and apologize.

"_I was a little worried about the assassins too," _he added casually. Ona rolled her eyes.

He eyed her somewhat woefully, a sort of desperation hiding beneath his face, some suppressed emotion he could not express. Eventually he sighed, and released his apology.

"_I really am sorry," _he started, _"Back there…I let my temper get away from me, and, I said a lot of things I didn't mean."_

"Oh, so now lying is alright with you too?" Ona snapped. "You think you can say whatever you want, as long as it keeps me from getting angry at you?"

Haurran opened his useless mouth, dumbfounded as Ona laughed spitefully at him.

"I know that you really did mean every word you said back in the forest," she went on. "You don't want to be the Avatar, but you do want the whole world to go take a hike and leave you alone. Don't look at me like that, you know I'm right!"

She expected him to get angry with her as he had before, but instead her words only left him looking drained. Colorless and grey, he stood still and watched the black horizon without a word. Ona turned awkwardly away, moving backwards to sit by Nokki on the grass.

"Who is he?" the smaller boy asked.

Ona shrugged, unwilling to respond. She sat stubbornly on the ground for what could have been hours, or maybe only a few minutes. It all felt the same. She had never wanted a soft bed to sleep on more than now, but knew such a comfort was probably as far off as the nearest star.

Eventually she grew too uncomfortable to remain on the ground, and rose to her feet to pace up and down the clearing. Haurran had not yet moved, which only served to fuel the petulant thoughts in Ona's head. For some reason he had been unconsciously established as the leader of their pathetic group, and though he infuriated her, she was reluctant to leave without him.

_It's just because I don't know where we are,_ she told herself. _We can't go home until he tells us where home is. _She glanced at him, knowing that this was only part of the problem. Guilt was tied like a rope around her waist; her cruel words a tether between her and Haurran that had taken pride to weave, but that was stronger than simple pride could break.

Ona gulped, symbolically swallowing her sour self-importance, and approached the other boy with tiny steps. Nokki watched drowsily from behind her, his interest split between Ona and fighting his heavy eye-lids back open one more time.

She hesitated when she stood next to him, then forced the words out. "Haurran?" she breathed weakly. "I…I think it's time we went home. Do you know how to get back to town from here?"

He narrowed his eyes, and then shook his head. Ona felt her stomach flip, and shuttered visibly at this response.

"You mean…you have no idea where we are? We're lost?"

Haurran wagged his head again. _"We're not lost, but you can't go home. Not if you want to stay alive."_

"I…don't understand what—"

He cut her off with a short burst of scornful breath, the closest he would come to a rueful laugh. _"Do you really think those assassins are just going to leave you be? They could be burning your town to the ground right now for all you know. If you go home you can be sure they'll find you again, and they'll probably kill your entire family along with you when they show up."_

Ona was speechless for several moments, her hands trembling as if from an icy cold. Finally she said, "What…what am I supposed to do? What about my parents?"

Haurran looked at her sadly. _"You leave, and hope the assassins decide that your family doesn't know anything, and lets them live. But…going back, even for a few minutes, is the best way to ensure their deaths."_

A shiver clawed its way up her back, forcing a ragged punch of air out of her mouth. She looked to Nokki for support, but he was watching her with unrealistic calm. She took a moment to realize that he hadn't heard what Haurran had told her. He didn't know the immense danger they had all fallen into.

"I…I can't just leave without saying goodbye," Ona stammered. "They're probably frantic already, I've been gone all day and I never told them…if I don't go home, what will they think?"

"_That you're lost, or you were kidnapped, or maybe murdered," _Haurran answered gravely. _"Parents always assume the worst."_

Nokki picked up on Ona's panic, and stood up to wander over and comfort her. He still had no idea what was going on. "What's wrong?" he wanted to know.

Ona could not acknowledge him, standing with her shaking hands pressed to her forehead, she fought the control the hysterical moans that bubbled in her throat. This could not be happening. She was losing her family, stepping into a life on the run, abandoning her home all because she had tried to be friends with one boy? Haurran had done this! He had brought this horrible reality down on her head when she had never asked for it.

"What are we supposed to do?" She demanded, whirling on him. "Look what you've done! Look what you've done to me! This is all your fault! You have to tell me what I'm supposed to do! You have to fix this!"

Haurran only stared mournfully at her, clearly as pained as she was. He watched as Nokki helplessly tried to console her, rubbing her back as confusion twisted his eyes.

"What's the matter Ona?" the smaller boy asked over and over again. He never got more than strangled sobs as an answer.

This went on for some time. Ona argued with Haurran while Nokki heard only half of the conversation and did his best to keep his friend from collapsing entirely. No matter how many times Haurran advised against it, Ona insisted on returning to see her parents.

"I have to tell them what happened," she said. "I won't just leave them in the dark, wondering where their daughter got off to. I can't bear it if they think I'm dead!"

Nokki looked stunned. This was the first he'd heard of anyone being dead. "What?" he asked, but was ignored again.

"_You're only putting them in danger," _Haurran repeated. _"I'm telling you that it's best to leave now and not look back. I know it's not easy, but you have to understand that it's better for everyone this way."_

Ona shook her head. "You expect me to just run off and follow you…wherever, without even telling my parents first? And where are you going, back to your precious masters? Won't you be putting them in danger too?"

"_I'm not going back to my masters. I have my own plan."_

"So what then? We're just a pair of stupid kids, and you want to start playing tag with a group of assassins? You really want me to follow you into that alone?" Ona thought her voice was growing shrill, and she hated herself for it. In fact, she realized she had never hated herself more than in that moment. She felt tired, helpless, and ugly for the disgust that she spat with every word.

"_I never said you had to come with me," _Haurran informed her. _"I'd rather not have you, if you're going to act like this."_

Eyes wet with tears, Ona brushed Nokki away and glared at Haurran. "You've gone and torn down my entire life, and you have the nerve to insult me? To speak to me like a misbehaving child? Well, for your information I don't want to go anywhere with you either! Your practically a monster yourself, the way you act, without even caring for the safety of others. If you always hurt the people trying to get close to you, I can understand why you don't have any friends!"

Nokki raised his eyebrows. "Ona, what are you talking about? Just tell me what—"

"Nokki, please," Ona silenced him harshly. She turned and started tromping away, headed northward by her best guess.

"_Where are you going?" _Haurran asked.

"Home. Come on Nokki." Her friend hesitated, glancing uncertainly at Haurran, but then he hurried to Ona's side.

Still glaring, Ona stomped her foot and raised the circle of rock on which she and Nokki stood. With a rough thrust of her hands the pillar raced forward, tearing a scar in the ground as it plunged into the distance.


	6. An Uneasy Sayonara

**~~~~*****Welcome back faithful readers! I did get one response from someone, though not on the chapter that I asked for responses on (I seriously wonder if you guys read what I put up here!). There are a few readers, so I'll keep posting for now.

I'm afraid that this chapter is more about Ona's incredible insecurity, and not so much _action, _if you will. Hopefully we'll get to the good stuff later on, so bear with me for now.

No illustration. Maybe not for a while with the amout of studing and assignments I have to do. Maybe if you beg...and bring offerings of chocolate and tootsie rolls I'll consider working on something. :) See Ya SOON! *****~~~~**

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"_The strength of children is unfathomable to me. Their young hearts will fight for anything they deem worthy of protection, but their ignorance can sometimes put them on the wrong side. Of course, adults can be led astray by pride, which is something that our children can only learn from us."_

-Master Hon, Fire Bending teacher to Avatar Haurran

**Chapter Six**

**An Uneasy Sayonara**

"Ona, do you think those guys are following us?"

"Be quiet Nokki!" She swatted the air behind her, accidentally smacking her friend's nose in the dark. She heard him whimper briefly, and felt a flicker of regret, but it was soon swallowed by annoyance. Exhaustion was like a sword in her side, or a bleeding gash on her skull. Ona didn't have the patience to comfort Nokki anymore, and she was beginning to wish he had gone home on his own.

She didn't say this aloud; her grace was not that far gone. Her mood improved for a moment when she laid eyes on her home, standing tall upon a wide hill, the small windows lit with strobes of candlelight.

"Look," Ona sighed and pointed to the cottage. "My parents must be waiting for us! Hurry!"

Together they scurried up the hill, their blistered feet clomping noisily on the stone staircase as they rushed toward the house. Ona breathed her abundant relief as she grasped the door handle, eager to see the familiar faces of her family.

The house was darker than expected. Only one candle was lit, the fire no more than smoking embers in the hearth. Sitting on an old wicker chair, drowsily stitching some ragged piece of clothing with her careful fingers, was Ona's mother.

"Mama!"

Ronna looked up sharply, taking in her daughter with one surprised glance. Then she smiled easily and returned to her sewing. "Welcome home, sweetheart."

Ona stepped forward and hugged her mother's shoulders, happier to see the woman than she had first realized.

"Sorry we were out so late," Nokki said. "We…eh, ran into a little trouble."

Ronna seemed uninterested. "Well, I hope you enjoyed yourselves, dears. I certainly missed your help this morning."

"Sorry Mama," Ona murmured, squeezing her mother's arm. "Where are all the little sprats?" she asked, meaning her younger siblings.

"Asleep. They wouldn't have even noticed you had gone if not for the extra work. The little bugs."

Ona turned to the failing fire, watching Nokki nosing around the stove. "I don't think they like me very much."

Ronna sighed. "You just don't communicate with them, Ona. It's not their fault if you seem like a stranger. If you would spend more time with people, instead of tossing rocks around the yard all day, you might be that much closer to marriage. I don't mean to pick at you sweetie, but I do get so worried about your future."

"Mama, not now. I need to talk to you-"

"You have to figure this out sometime," Ronna insisted wearily. "Maybe you should forget about competition for awhile. Start working your way into the social scene, put yourself out there. You are almost finished with your education after all."

Ona looked at her mother fearfully. These were unfamiliar and unwelcome words coming out of Ronna's mouth, though it was clearly something the ageing woman had been thinking about extensively. A weight of sadness descended onto Ona's shoulders, making her feel useless and insignificant. It pained her to think she was worrying her mother, but the trials of courting and marriage were even more painful to think about.

Ona was not clueless. She knew how plain she was, how little she knew about beauty and the arts of attraction. Her own body seemed to be her enemy more often than not, and she had realized a long time ago that ignoring it was the best way to get by. The sturdy muscles she had came from rigorous training, and perhaps they would look better on a boy. The prettiest girls were the ones with smooth, unscarred skin that glowed in the sunlight or some such nonsense. They had an arsenal of gorgeous hairstyles that made Ona's traditional bun look boring and childish. They wore lavish costumes like art on their carefully shaped bodies, crafting intricate and beautiful combinations of skirts, powders and perfumes that drew in suitors like flies.

Ona didn't know where to start. She knew she was lucky just to have Nokki's attention; there was more than one girl who would have liked to have dinner with him, to hold his hand, or to laugh at his silly jokes.

"I don't know what you want from me, mama," Ona grumbled. "What's gotten into you anyway?

"Oh, it's nothing," Ronna said, and laid down her sewing. "It's just that a pair of handsome young men came by the house today, asking for you."

"What?"

Now Ronna wore a sliver of a smile, obviously pleased. "That's right, two young men came by, and they were handsome lads too. They said they wanted to talk to you, but I had to tell them you weren't home. It seemed like such a wasted opportunity, Ona. I couldn't help feeling a little angry about it."

Ona dared not feel pleased. Her face had gone pale, and her stomach was tightening in the most disconcerting way. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nokki watching her, standing still in anticipation.

"What…what were these men wearing, mama?" she pressed. "Was it white robes, with red trimming?"

Ronna nodded. "Yes, that's it exactly. I thought it was rather cute, how they matched. Do you know them, then?"

For a long while Ona could do little more than stare at her mother's expectant face. The comforting walls of her old home were beginning to seem wicked and claustrophobic. The air was poisonous, un-breathable. The assassins had been here, in this very room, asking for her. They had already found her family, they knew she had parents and siblings that she cared about, and would likely return here to look for her again. For all she knew, the whole crowd of them could be snaking their way toward her door at this very moment, their deadly weapons ready for a slaughter.

It was just like Haurran had said. As the memory of the lead assassin's face, his mad eyes burning with hatred and rage returned to her, she understood just how much danger her family was in. She never should have come home. This horribly defiant choice could be leading all those Ona loved into the awaiting arms of death.

The thought was enough to make her want to cry. She wanted to hug her mother like a child, to hide in the folds of her dark robes until all the nightmares were chased away. But doing that would only doom Ronna further. In fact, every second Ona spent here was endangering her family.

This place was not home anymore. It was a death trap, and so was everyone in it. Her only hope was to disconnect herself then and there, before it was too late.

Stealing her face, Ona looked at her mother and faked a smile. "I don't really know them," she said truthfully. The last true thing she would ever tell her, she thought. "I…met them at the last tournament. They wanted to know where I did my training, and I promised to show them the yard. They've heard of father's success in the past, and I guess they wanted to learn a few tricks. I'm sorry I wasn't home. I guess I forgot that I invited them over."

Ronna shrugged, looking tired. "Well, live and learn, right sweetie? Maybe they'll come back, if they're so interested. You won't let them get away this time, will you now?"

Ona swallowed. Nokki was staring at her, looking sick with shock. She was glad he was keeping his mouth shut, even though he probably wanted to tell Ronna everything. Nokki would keep a secret if Ona asked him to, though he seemed to be struggling with this one.

"Actually, mama," she went on carefully. "I have some other news. I…I won't be home much anymore. Probably not at all. I'm leaving."

Ronna looked up, wondering if she should be alarmed. "What do you mean? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. I just found out that the World Cup is going to be held in the Fire Nation, on the Red Isle."

Ona watched her mother frown as she clawed her way toward understanding. "The Red Isle…that's so far. I don't think we could ever make that journey. Are you saying that you want to try?"

"I may have found a way to get there," Ona went on carefully. "I would be traveling with…some…friends of mine. They're leaving right away, but I thought I should stop in and say goodbye."

Ronna shot her daughter a stern look. "What? You thought your father and I would just let you walk out? No, Ona that is too much to ask, even for the World Cup. It's like I told you before, maybe it's time you gave up on competition for a while. Especially if it's going to take you so far from home, and alone, no less!"

"But mama!" Ona pleaded. "I've never been this close to winning at the World Cup! I know I can do it this time!"

"You can't if you're not allowed to go."

"I am going." Ona fixed her mother with coldly determined eyes, an easy mask over even colder fear. "I can't stay here."

Sighing, Ronna glanced at the darkened hall leading to the bedrooms. "What am I supposed to tell your father? What do I tell him when he finds out that his eldest daughter fled his home in the middle of the night?"

"Tell him that I'll be at the Red Isle in time for the World Cup. If he wants to punish me, he'll have to meet me there."

"Ona…"

She reached out and grabbed her mother's hand, snatching it off the table more frantically than she had intended. Holding it tightly, Ona stared into Ronna's weary eyes and vigorously fought the urge to sob out loud.

"Mama, I promise I'll be at the Red Isle for the World Cup," she whispered. "I'll be there, and I'll win, and then I'll come home and never leave again. Just let me do this, one last time. I swear, when I get back I'll doll myself up and parade up and down every street in town every day. I'll go to tea parties and dances and flirt until I can't bat my eyes anymore. I'll do whatever you say. Just, please, let me have this…one last chance."

Ronna studied her daughter for several long moments, every one of her distressed thoughts warring behind her weathered face. Ona could tell she suspected something. Her mother knew that this outrageous request was about more than the World Cup. For some reason, this knowledge helped them both to relax.

"I don't want you to go," Ronna said. "But…I can tell this means something to you. I'm going to take you at your word, sweetheart. If I don't hear from you within a month, I'm sending out a search party to bring you home."

It wasn't a joke. Ronna wasn't smiling, but neither was anyone else in the room. With a small nod, Ona dropped her mother's hand, and edged away toward her room to gather clothes for the journey. Nokki followed her, but grabbed her arm and pulled her aside once they were out of earshot.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. "We have to tell your parents about those guys who attacked us! They were here!"

"We can't tell them, Nokki. Those men were assassins," Ona muttered, trying to keep her voice low. "They came here once, looking for me, and they'll be back. Every second we spend her is putting my family in danger."

He looked at her, disgusted in his shock. "So you're just going to run from them? They'll catch you before dusk tomorrow, Ona, you know that. You have to get help!"

"No! And be quiet. We don't want to wake anyone up." She turned back toward her room, feeling her friend narrow his eyes at her back. "We'll be lucky to make it to morning at this rate."

A few minutes later Ona reemerged in the dining room, a small pack of clothes hitched on her shoulder. Ronna turned when she came in, and walked over to hand a small bundle to her daughter.

"Just some money, and a bit of food," she said drearily.

Ona took the small pack gently and favored her mother with a sad smile. "Thank you."

Ronna didn't return the gesture. She looked as if she hadn't slept in weeks, as if someone precious to her had just died. Ona didn't like that look, and turned her face away.

"I'm going to have to trust you, Ona," her mother said. "But don't you dare let me down. I'm only letting you do this because I know that you can protect yourself if you need to. And…I don't know, maybe you'll meet a nice boy along the way."

Ona laughed. "You think about boys more than I do, mama."

Ronna's lips turned up then, if only briefly. "Good luck, sweetheart. Come back to me, will you?"

"I promise."

Ona gave her mother one last, long hug, knowing that a moment like this would not come again for a long time. When she pulled away, Ona felt her heart shudder a little inside her chest. The urge to weep was only that much stronger.


	7. Plans

**~~~**** **Hey everybody, sorry it's been so long, and sorry that this chapter is so pitifully short. I hoped to give this story nicely fleshed out chapters, but school is sucking up all my time and energy, so poor Seven looks a little starved to me. In any case, I hope to have the next chapter up in a few weeks, and I'll be trying out some of the new writing techniques I've learned on it. The illustration I've got in the works is for chapter...nine...I think...I need to finish that stupid outline already!

Since this story was dead and came back to life while I was working on another fan fiction, I have been struggling to balance them both. I may have found a groove, but I'm hoping that it doesn't kill me...haha, right?

Okay, take what you've got, and I'll see ya soon! :3 ******~~~**

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Chapter Seven

**Plans**

Down the moonlit steps Ona's tired feet tramped, with those of her friend scurrying uncertainly behind. Nokki seemed to have lost that familiar light-footed step he was known for, and had replaced it with an awkwardly heavy tread. It was as if he were tromping through a lake of mud or a hill of snow. He followed Ona for several yards, but stopped suddenly halfway down the hill.

"Wait," he called, loudly enough that Ona flinched. "You're not seriously going to make a run for it, are you? This is crazy, you do realize that!"

She sighed. "You can't stay here either. They'll be after your family too."

Nokki snorted and reminded Ona that his family was far away in the north, safe and sound on the ice. This comment only made her more upset with him, and she turned away irritably.

He pursued her the rest of the way down the steps, but at the bottom Ona's thoughts were jerked away from Nokki and her family. Haurran was waiting at the foot of the hill, standing like a short tree with the darkness cloaked around him. His hollowed eyes looked up at her like he expected to see her faint.

Ona stared at him and realized that she wasn't surprised he was there. "What…what are you doing here?" she asked, only because she thought she should.

"_I thought you would want a little…direction," _he answered. _"I have a plan for getting around unnoticed, if you're interested."_

Shifting her cumbersome bags, she considered him for a moment. Nothing about his words or his posture seemed anxious. This was something Ona was getting used to; Haurran was blank as a rock on the outside, but unfortunately for her, his mind inside was more like a waterfall of emotions.

"How did_ he_ find us?" Nokki walked up from behind, frowning deeper than ever. "What does he want?"

Ona ignored him, and replied to Haurran. "What did you have in mind?"

"_Head north, I know some people in the city who might led us a hand."_ He shrugged. _"It's better than staying here, and I really think the three of us should stick together if we can. We'll be safer that way."_

"Maybe," Ona muttered. "I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea where to go from here. I just don't want to involve my family."

Haurran nodded, and seemed ready to say more when Nokki jumped in and asked, "Ona, what are you talking about? I want to know what's going on here!"

"Shh," Ona hissed. "I'm trying to figure this out, okay? Haurran wants us to go with him, he says he knows a few people who could—"

"What do you mean he 'says?'" Nokki threw his hands in the air. "I didn't hear him say anything. In fact, I haven't heard a single word come out his mouth all night!"

"_It's kind of hard to explain."_

Ona agreed, "Yes, really hard to explain."

Now Nokki was eyeing the two of them with considerable suspicion. "Whatever," he grunted. "I'm not going with him anyway. I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't be dumb, Nokki!" Ona pleaded. Her tone was sharp from exhaustion, the weariness clamping around her body destroying all her attempts to be kind. Why was he being so difficult? "Do you have any idea how much danger we're all in? We have to get out of here, go somewhere safe before those men come back."

"_Not safe, exactly," _Haurran put in. _"Safe is impossible. We'll be _safer_ when we leave here, but never…safe."_

Ona cut her eyes at him. "Is that supposed to help us feel better?"

"_Well, I—"_

"Nevermind," she sighed, and turned back to Nokki where he stood on the grass, staring at her as if he expected to be told this was all a mean-spirited joke. Ona wished she could tell him exactly what he wanted to hear in place of the truth. He didn't look like he would accept any explanation at this point.

"You haven't even told me what's going on," Nokki said softly. "I don't understand why you lied to your mother, or why we were attacked by those guys, or -any of this!" His gaze was pleading, his eyes begging for an answer that would settle his fears. He swallowed. "I want to know why you're leaving. I can't go with you unless you explain this. I won't do it."

"We don't have time now, Nokki," Ona insisted. "Please, I'll tell you everything as soon as I can, but right now—"

He cut her off, "Right now I want you to tell me _something! Anything!_ Tell me why you trust some strange kid I've never seen before more than you trust _me!"_

_What do I say? _she thought. _This is Haurran, he's the Avatar, but he's mute. I can hear him though, because in a previous life he healed me. Oh, and those guys are assassins who want to use us to capture him, so there's a pretty big chance were all going to be killed if we don't leave __**right now**__. Got it? Okay, good._

No, even loyal Nokki would never buy that. Ona couldn't even think of a good lie to tell him anymore, not when his eyes seemed sharp enough to dissect every word.

"I can't explain it," she offered weakly. "If you don't trust Haurran, then at least trust me. We're in a lot of trouble, Nokki. We _have _to leave."

For several painfully stretched moments all the three of them could do was stare. It was obvious that each of them was afraid to speak, afraid of what the next sentence would bring down on their fragile worlds.

"So," Ona breathed delicately, "are you coming or not?"

Nokki solemnly wagged his head back and forth one time, his expression saying "_that wasn't good enough."_ Ona swallowed, and nodded to him with the driest eyes she could manage.

"Alright," she said softly. "I'm going. Do what you want…and…be careful."

He didn't say anything back, choosing to watch her walk past Haurran onto the road in silence. The small boy seemed shriveled with disbelief; shock the only barrier staying his total collapse. And yet Ona walked mercilessly on, as if she had done all she could. Haurran looked apologetic, but he too turned away, following Ona into the shadows ahead with his eyes searching the dirt.

* * *

Every seat, every inch of the wooden bar, every bubble of air inside the tavern seemed to be occupied by carousing townspeople. Amidst the wall of reeking bodies spilling out into the lamp-lighted streets a small group of hooded strangers moved, inching forward like rocks in the tide. They maneuvered toward the farthest corner of the building, seeking their own place to take seat. A solitary booth in a dusty and forgotten corner suited them well enough, and they quietly took their place without so much as a word passing between them.

After a few restless moments assigned to searching the crowd for eavesdroppers, all five men dropped their hoods and relaxed slightly behind the table.

"So, are we eating while were here?" proposed one of men. His wrinkled head barely came up to the shoulders of his colleagues, though he was clearly the eldest in the company.

Across the table a bright eyed young man snickered. "For such a small man you certainly like to eat, don't you Master Kohmatzu?"

"Speak for yourself Master Toka," Master Kohmatzu said behind his grin. "You are quite small as well."

"Would you two stop wagging your tongues! We didn't come here to eat and flirt," grumbled the largest of the gathered men. His eyes were buried in a deep frown, and his leathery face held the look even when he wasn't scowling. "We have very important business to discuss, such as why the three of you were so incompetent as to completely lose track of one adolescent boy in a matter of minutes!"

"The tree of _us?"_ retorted Master Toka, "Since when are you not responsible for Haurran's care, Hon?"

The large man raised his thinned eyebrows. "I'm sure you meant to say _Master _Hon, did you not, water sprite?"

Master Toka's eyes became wide and round, his proud rage spilling over into a fierce grimace. "Don't think I fear you and your fire-breathing _nose _old man_."_

"Shut up, all of you!"

The forth man was Haurran's guardian (or perhaps more likely his warden), the pucker-faced Doric. The skeletal man wore a perpetual jowl-drooping glower, an expression that changed less often than his mood did. "Toka, Kohmatzu, Hon…" he muttered to each of the gathered in a gloomy monotone, "You are all three masters of your elements…binders of water, air and fire, and yet you set your minds to pitiful squabbles. You behave as children. We are here to discuss our greater plans, not our worldly differences. You all know that if we succeed in our ambition, such …hindrances will be obsolete. Is that not of paramount importance?"

"_Your _ambitions," grunted Master Toka.

"Excuse me?"

The water bender narrowed his dazzling eyes. "These are your ambitions, Doric. We are lackeys to your plans, masters or not. Personally, I'm glad that Haurran ran off; it was an excellent way to sour your ego."

"Your opinions are noted," Doric droned.

"They're not just my opinions! Master Kohmatzu feels the same way. I have heard him say so."

Master Kohmatzu blinked, as if he had been summoned out of a daydream by the sound of his name. His air bender arrow wrinkled as he rubbed his head. "What was that?"

Hon's deep voice rolled over the smaller man's question as he said, "You say you have these objections, Toka, but then why are you still with us?"

"I…" he hesitated, cowed slightly by the severe gazes surrounding him. "I care…I want to be sure, sure that Haurran is not harmed by…all of this."

The anticipated laughter hummed in his ears. Doric continued to glower as he said, "Regardless of your feelings Toka, our plans need to be adjusted. Both Haurran and the girl have escaped us, and both of them are required if we hope to enter the First Gate." He turned slightly to the last of the men, the only one who had not spoken. "I hope you have something in mind, Korr. Your wage is certainly high enough, and I would hope you will earn it."

The other man grinned, combing his lush black hair with his fingers. He too bore arrows on his forehead and hands like Master Kohmatzu's, though the younger man's tattoos were coal black in place of sky blue. "I do not readily admit failure, but the girl would not have escaped if I had been given more information about her. I was told that she is insecure, that she has never encountered a real crisis, and that she and the Avatar are somehow connected. No one told me that she had any skill as an earth bender."

Doric frowned darkly. "That is false. You were informed the girl was a competitive bender of high rank."

"That hardly means anything," Korr scoffed. "Those bending competitions are nothing but trite hobbies. No matter their rank, a competition bender is worthless off the field, in a real situation. I was counting on that, but your dear Onatha has obviously had some…specialized training."

"Or, perhaps you are not the great assassin you claim to be," Master Hon prodded.

The young air bender's lips rose in a angry snarl. "Only a fool will temp an assassin, or was your mother so absent-minded as to forget to teach you such vital lessons?"

Master Hon chuckled, amused. "You are nothing more than a bounty hunter, boy. At your best you could claim to be a desperate mercenary."

"Enough of this," Doric commanded. "Haurran will be difficult to track. We must remember that he knows many of the secrets of travel. We cannot waste our breath on these school yard taunts."

"He'll head north, surely," said Korr huffily. "Into the cities where he will be harder to find, or so he thinks. In any case, he and the girl will most likely move together. This may be for the best; now both targets travel as one."

Master Toka could hold his tongue no more. "Then I propose we search for them in small groups. There are a handful of cities in the northern earth kingdom they could be moving toward, and we would do best to search them all."

Doric thought this over, his black eyes still as stone. Finally he agreed, "Very well. Master Hon and I will go our own way, and I will trust you and Master Kohmatzu to find what you can. We should gather again before the season ends."

"Well, that leaves you, Korr," said Toka.

The air bender assassin smiled lazily, and stood up from the table with and odd grace. "I could do well solo, though I have a special person in mind that would to extremely well for me. Don't bother yourselves with this _desperate_ _mercenary._ I will contact you again when I believe to have earned my wage."

He cast a sugar-coated smile at the men still seated, and vanished into the sea of merry-makers before another word could be spoken.

Master Hon was the next to rise, followed by Doric. Both of them gruffly went off to find their beds at the inn across the street. Toka was left alone with Master Kohmatzu the table.

"You hungry?" the wrinkled monk asked hopefully.

Master Toka's mouth smiled, though worry was in his eyes. "Why don't we order something?" he said. "We'll toast to safe travel, and to the hope that, for Haurran's sake, we are the ones to find him first."


	8. Good For Something

~~~~*** Oh, wow, you probably don't really care about this (my precious 3 readers) but these last few weeks have been KILLER. I burned out on an oil painting that I had to do for my Illustration class because I didn't give myself enough time to do it. I ended up cramming in paint sessions every spare moment (I'm talking 4-5 hours a NIGHT here, for a full week!).

So, I'm at the point where I'm so impatiant to get things done and see results that I gridlock myself and do nothing. And that's where I am. But, Friday was my birthday ( I turned 19, the last of the teen years, *tear*) so that sorta made it better. :)

Anyway, here's your dumb chapter already. Hope you like it.

**Update: New Illustration(s)! "If I Gave You The Moon" and "Chaos" posted on my profile!*****~~~~

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"_For me, the worst part of it all was sleep, or the lack of sleep, really. It took so long to get used sleeping in the back of the cart where everything rattled and it smelled like wet antler hound. And those nights we were fleeing, I would lie down knowing that Haurran would stay awake the whole night, watching over us when the spirits would not."_

-Onatha

Chapter Eight

Good For Something

The North March was an iron flat road, wider than some trees were tall and longer than most rivers. This didn't make sense to Ona, who believed that the North March had in fact been cut by a river spirit, though all the water had turned to dust with time. In any case, it was now a forgotten road, lost on modern maps and ignored by many travelers.

Only the Earth Kingdom farmers traversed the once crowded lane anymore, driving their carts along in weathered silence as the rice fields rustled by the wayside. Haurran and Ona had been hopping from one cart to the next for almost three days, slowly clattering their way northward. By that time the thrill of the journey had faded in the abyss of heat and dust and scorched skin.

"_We should be reaching the first city soon,"_ Haurran offered, his voice tired and breezy. _"That's what the farmer told us, right?"_

Ona looked at him, leaning on the tall wooden rim of the cart and squinting at her expectantly. She noticed groggily how brown his skin had become, except for fiery patches of redness on his nose and cheeks. Her own skin was so burnt she could barely move without wincing, and she had been glad when Haurran had fashioned a straw hat for her to wear. The shade it gave her face seemed priceless these days.

"I'm sorry…what did you ask?" she muttered.

"_The first city, it's coming up isn't it?"_

She shrugged. "I can't remember."

A long pause followed, filled willingly with the swishing sound of rice leaves like soft waves on the ocean. Ona let herself be mesmerized by the leafy song, too weary to fight it, when Haurran's voice drifted in and asked again for her attention.

"_Are you worried about your friend?" _he wanted to know.

"Who, Nokki?"

He nodded, yawning.

"I really don't know…" She sighed. "I can't understand why he wouldn't come with us, even after all we had been through already. Something really got to him I guess. I just wish…maybe I should have tried harder to convince him. I just don't know."

Haurran smiled, sort of a reflexive motion when he was put off by something. _"I don't think he liked me very much."_

"Well I don't like you much either, and I still came along," Ona retorted lamely.

He sighed in what (she hoped) was an amused way. Ona bowed her head sleepily, wishing she could break her habit of always responding rudely to his questions. When she glanced at him he had his eyebrows raised. Blushing, she realized he had asked her another question that she hadn't heard.

"_I was wondering why your friend had such yellow hair," _Haurran repeated. _"I've never seen anything like it."_

Ona chuckled. "It's not nearly as amazing as you think. Last month someone told Nokki that if he mixed ground nypam leaves and sunjuice and put them in his hair it would stand straight up to the sky."

"_But..isn't sunjuice used to color clothing? It's a really potent dye, right?"_

"Yeah, but Nokki didn't know that," Ona said, smiling. Haurran smiled too, anticipating. "He tried it, and the napam leaves stripped the color from his hair, and then the sunjuice turned it yellow. Just like the way clothing is dyed. You should have seen his face when he realized what he'd done."

They both laughed, though the most Haurran could do in the way of laughing was put on his widest smile and huff out a few breaths. Ona didn't mind, as she could feel his mirth like a gentle wind brushing her side. She still wasn't used to sampling his emotions, no matter how gentle they were.

"Nokki is a year older than me, you know," she said.

Haurran only looked a little surprised. _"I guess I can see that. The only reason anyone would think he's younger is because he's so lighthearted all the time, like a child. His yellow hair is evidence of his innocence. It's not a bad thing, really."_

Ona closed her eyes again, feeling the steamy hand of the sun on her arms. Haurran too, fell into a quiet trance, his peace lapping on Ona's mind as the cart jumbled over the road. The farmer driving the cart was headed to a small village near the city to deliver his produce, and had agreed to take the two young travelers with him. They expected to stay the next night in the village square, where they could also restock on provisions. For now though, the brown-orange road ahead seemed to stretch all the way to the sun.

Neither Ona nor Haurran had spoken a word for hours, though only one of them had fallen asleep. While Ona dozed, her companion let his mind wander with the swiftly chilling breeze, watching closely as the twilight nuzzled its way over the daytime. He checked on her once, perhaps twice, but was otherwise content to watch the endless fields of green leaves stroll by as the day drew to a close.

Suddenly Haurran felt a tightening in his chest, like something urgent grasping at him. He looked around, but saw nothing, though the uncomfortable feeling lingered. The earliest of the cool night winds fluttered over his head, making his hair dance and his skin crawl. He shivered and massaged the spot near his lungs where the pain seemed to flow from.

The old farmer guiding the cart turned back to him. "We should stop for the night I think. Unless you want to continue on for a while?"

Haurran considered for a moment, noting that with every turn of the cart's wheels the discomfort he felt multiplied. Whatever was hurting him was getting closer, or they were getting closer to it. In any case, he was curious, and also wanted greatly to ease his suffering.

_I won't be able to sleep like this,_ he thought uneasily. He signaled to the farmer to continue on a bit longer, hoping that they would reach something of significance before nightfall.

It wasn't very long before something unordinary appeared ahead of them. A short ways off in one of the fields a bruise-colored smog loomed, like a behemoth in the ocean of leaves. Just looking at the shifting purple gloom Haurran could feel a darker manifestation ahead. The tension in his chest worsened.

"_Ona wake up,"_ he said, nudging her. She groaned, sniffed, and then wrenched open her eyes.

"What is it?"

The old farmer looked back, and said, "That's what I'd like to know. I've never seen anything like that out there before. What do you think it—hey!"

Haurran had descended from the cart and was walking toward the petulance, heedless of the farmer's warning cries. Ona waited until the cart stopped before she jumped down to follow, the farmer watching anxiously from his seat.

Catching up to him, she noticed how tight Haurran's breaths were, the air hissing out and in from between his clenched teeth. A cold drop of nervousness flashed under Ona's skin as she shuffled through the rice plants. The cloud of dark fog quickly overtook them, choking out what little light remained in the sky.

"It smells," Ona observed, pinching her nose. "What is this uck?"

"_It's like…some kind of dark presence rotting the air," _Haurran thought. _"I can feel the spirits calling. They're pulling on me, I need to talk to them now." _His face flashed with uncertainty for a moment, but then he straightened and looked up. _"I have to go to the Spirit World. Catch me, or I'll fall."_

"What?" Ona glanced at him, but he was already toppling. She yelped and grabbed his body, his weight pulling her down so that they both tumbled to the ground in a sore heap. Ona sat up, spitting dirt and leaves out of her mouth and pushed Haurran around until his head was on her lap.

She took one look at him and choked on her own breath. His eyes were open, but gone were his shadowed green irises. Instead, the orbs under his deep brow were glowing solid white, matching the light breaking between his lips.

_Is this…the Avatar state? _She couldn't help but stare, wondering if Haurran would suddenly fly into a fit of masterful bending. But he only lay still as if in the deepest sleep.

The Spirit World was a familiar place for Haurran. He (thought) that he seemed to have failed as the Avatar in the aspects of bending and imparting wisdom, but he seemed to have an edge over his previous incarnations as the bridge between worlds. This place was more home to him than the real world had ever been. The spirits were the closest beings he had known to family. He would often remember disappearing into the Spirit World as a child, playing and exploring while Doric screamed at him to return to his body.

_Why would I ever come back? _He thought laughingly. _I can actually speak here. The spirits actually want me around for something more than training._

He shook his head. This was no time to brood over past miseries, not when night was descending back in the rice field. The mystery of the dark fog needed to be solved quickly.

The purple smog seemed to have permeated this realm as well, the already foggy atmosphere mixed with the dark mist. Haurran glanced back, and saw Ona kneeling on the ground, trying not to look frightened. He felt guilty for leaving her there so unexpectedly, but there was not much he could have done.

_Whatever the spirits want, they better have a good reason for dragging me here like this. _He sighed, noting the remnant of anxious ache in his chest. _Better get it over with. _

As he proceeded farther into the field, Haurran noticed numerous changes in the landscape. Truly, the cloud-like spindles rising in droves like a spontaneous forest were signs. The more he walked, the more shapes the gases took, until he was surrounded by a jungle of bulbous formations. He was getting closer. Whatever was causing this haze lay just ahead.

Passing through a wall of mist, Haurran stumbled into a wide clearing circled with dripping, melting spires of cloud, like the decaying wreckage of a castle. A foul stench seemed to physically cripple his lungs, and his hands whisked up to guard his mouth and nose.

And then, through the swirling fog he slowly perceived a hideous shape unlike the others. A monster of intimidating size and repulsiveness appeared before him, its unnaturally curved back making it appear like a small mountain turning to face the puny mortal at its feet. He caught his breath as another wave of reeking air hit him, clearly emanating from the rotted skin peeling off the beast's multiple arms and legs.

The creature resembled a tortured hog most of all, though Haurran saw it as a horrible conglomeration of different animals all drenched in some thick black mucus. The monster noticed him, spying the human form with the fire red eyes slashed into either side of its snout.

The chimera roared, its jowls vibrating with the high-pitched screeching sound that soared from its expanding throat. A fat splinter of pain drove into Haurran's ears, making his eyes water. He could barely make out the beast from the cloudy backdrop as the monster charged him, fangs bared and clawed limbs reaching out to shred whatever they touched.

He dived out of the way, but the body of the monster skimmed his shoulder and a splash of the black gunk smacked his side. Dripping, Haurran scrambled to his feet and ran a few paces. He looked back once, just as a talon cut the air a few inches behind him. Fueled by pure fear, he ran faster, dashing through the cloud-forest with no particular course. The monster followed him, decaying the fog and the air around it as it moved.

Soon, the stench became like poison in Haurran's blood. He slowed unknowingly, feeling a weight pulling him to the ground until he had collapsed in the fog. The next few minutes were silent, and he wondered if the monster had lost his trail, or was just waiting nearby.

After some time Huarran recovered enough to sit up. He rubbed his head, listening for the bellow of the monster. Instead he heard sobs, delicate and hushed, not very far from himself. If he wasn't mistaken, it was a child crying, or at least it sounded that way. Standing, he crept toward the sound with caution, guiding his steps with the volume of the cries.

Eventually he came to the place where the weeping noise seemed to be coming from. At first when he looked around he saw nothing, but in places the mist would thin and he could see the rice field through the holes. Through one such patch he glimpsed the form of a young girl, crouching in the leaves and sniveling into her knees.

_She must be lost in that fog,_ he thought sadly. _She won't be able to see me. I have to go back to my body._

He turned back, and was surprised to find that nearly all the purple mist had dispersed. The air was as clear as it could be in the Spirit World, and for the time being everything appeared to have returned to normal. Not one to drop caution readily, Haurran took his time returning to the edge of the field. He eventually found Ona and his body after considerable wandering, and wearily lay down to descend back to the world of flesh.

"…It's really getting dark now, and cold, and I'm pretty sure that farmer drove away an hour ago, but because you're so _heavy_ I can't even drag you back to the road. So I'm stuck here with the bugs and the rat snakes slithering all around, and you won't wake up!"

Haurran's gut clenched as his spirit reasserted itself inside his body. He could hear Ona above him, talking relentlessly to herself, though it sounded like she was complaining at him in particular. He could not yet open his eyes, and waited for his muscles to respond to him again.

"I should have just stayed on the cart, just let you go off and do your crazy stuff on your own," she rattled on, not seeming to pause even for breath. "But I just had to follow you, because you didn't say anything to me about getting off the cart, or walking out into a stinky field or collapsing like you just died."

Her voice quavered. "I didn't…know what to do." Then she frowned defensively, and pinched Haurran's nose between her fingers. "You never tell me anything! We can't work together if you don't help me out!"

Haurran's eyes blinked open, staring upwards to the stars. Ona snatched her hand away from his face and felt a warm blush on her cheeks, though he only sat up without saying anything to her.

"So, what happened?" she asked.

Haurran turned his head side to side, searching for something in the dark. Ona could barely see more than a few yards in front of her, the night was so heavy. She could only guess what he was looking for.

Suddenly he stood up and spoke to her. "_There is a lost child in the field. I saw her when I was in the spirit world."_

"Oh, well…" she trailed off into a groan. Her legs ached cruelly when she stood up.

Haurran paused to let her stretch. _"That fog was caused by a spirit," _he explained. _"A corrupted one, I guess. I've never seen such a foul monster like that before. It's gone now, and taken the fog with it, but I'm not so sure they both won't come back."_

Ona now groaned inwardly, despairing over the growing number of dangers that had decided to follow her and Haurran. _Assassins, corrupted spirits…The Avatar sure keeps odd company. _She thought, and wondered for a moment how she could manage to fit in.

Haurran and Ona shared the field, hunting in different areas for the strayed child. Even Ona's insides where chilled by the time Huarran's cry echoed inside her mind, distant but still triumphant.

She took her time wandering back to the road, her muscles sluggish from indignation. Haurran appeared a moment later, carrying a very tiny girl on his side. The child's features bespoke all levels of fright, and her small round fists gripped her protector's shirt in a way that implied she would never let go.

"_There must be someone looking for her nearby," _Haurran said. _"The farmer will surely have stopped to camp somewhere close to here. We should try to find him."_

The young girl made no sounds, nor any motions as the small company walked down the grey road. She simply clung to Haurran as if she would meet her death the moment he set her down. Ona pretended not to mind, though the cause of her discomfort when she looked at the child was hard to name. Not jealousy she thought. She hoped.

It turned out that the farmer had indeed chosen to camp only a short distance from where his young passengers had abandoned him. He had joined with a decent crowd of other travelers, all situated round a sizeable fire. The various carts and wagons were lined up neatly in the far corner of the clearing, the pack animals snorting contentedly as they grazed.

"Hey, there you are young'ns. I was worried about you two, walking right into that curse like you did," the farmer rumbled in his husky voice.

"Curse?" exclaimed one of the travelers. "What's this you're talking about? Not that purple mist out in the field we saw today?"

The farmer nodded. "The very same! These two hopped right off my cart and walked into the mist like it was noting strange at all."

Astonished eyes fixed on Ona and Haurran. Some of the travelers regarded them with something like awe, as if they were witnesses to a supernatural event. Others, however, frowned mightily and cast their eyes away in distaste.

"The mist is gone now," Ona informed them. A few faces waxed relieved, though the majority remained astonished. "Haurran says that a corrupted spirit caused it, but it's gone now."

One of the women approached Ona, picking up the girl's cold hands in her own leathery palms. "Darling, you saw a spirit, did you? You must be exhausted. Come, have some dinner with us."

Ona made sure to keep close to Haurran when they sat down. She could feel her weariness pulsing with her heart, but walking to this camp she had discovered that Haurran was even more worn than she was. She thought to keep him from collapsing, but at the same time the strangers around them scared her. Nothing could be safer than sitting next the Avatar, right?

Even when they handed her a bowl of stew and rice balls she did not trust them. They seemed far too excited about the mist and the spirit that Ona had mentioned, and every second someone else was battering her with a question.

"I—I didn't see the spirit myself," she tried to explain. "Haurran saw it. He—"

"How can he see it when you can't?"

"Well—"

"And why did the mist disappear? Where did it go? Will it come back?"

"I don't—"

"Was it an earth spirit that you saw, perhaps?"

"I told you, I didn't see it!" She finally shouted. Everyone went silent. "I. . .can't see spirits, or anything. I'm not. . .that special."

The woman from before looked from Ona to Haurran curiously. "You say your friend saw the spirit? But you didn't…" she paused, staring at the children. "Could that be because. . . he's the only one who _can_ engage with the Spirit World?"

Suddenly the entire crowd of travelers captured the same thought. Ona shuttered when she heard them whispering, and saw them staring at Haurran like he was a radiant deity come to bless them with his powers.

"So…are you the Avatar, lad?" the farmer asked.

Haurran did not respond. In the dark no one could see the redness on his cheeks, or how his hands had clenched into white-knuckled fists on his lap. Instead of a tidal wave of emotion, Ona felt only a void in him, as she had when the assassins had first found them in the forest. In some ways, she would have prefered the wave.

One of the travelers lurched forward landed on his knees in front of Haurran. "So grateful to meet you, Mr. Avatar!" he lauded, gingerly touching the boy's hand. "A blessing! Truly it is!"

Distressed, Haurran could only stare back. His mouth was a tight line, every muscle tensed. The young girl leaning on his side felt his uneasiness and sat up as if a spark had bitten her. Everyone was watching expectantly.

"Well? Why doesn't he speak?" asked the woman. "These days are dark; surely we could use some wisdom from the Avatar! Some proof at least, maybe a little bending demonstration?"

Haurran looked down for the first time, drawing a long breath as he pulled his hands away from the other traveler. Then he quickly stood up and hurried away from the campsite, breaking through the ring of firelight and disappearing into the darkness alone. The crowd was left staring after him.

The woman made an unhappy face. "Well, what was that all about?" she grumbled. "Such rude behavior! If he is the Avatar why doesn't he just say so?"

"Maybe he isn't," suggested another.

"Couldn't be, not when acts that way. Rodic, get off the ground would you? Your making a fool of yourself."

The man on his knees looked crestfallen, and abashedly moved back to his place. Ona stood up.

"Haurran is the Avatar," she told them. "You were the ones to decide it yourselves, so he doesn't have to prove anything to you! Just... stop bothering us!" She felt herself falter under so many cold gazes. With a quick, awkward sigh she turned away from the camp and went to find Haurran.


	9. A Price To Be Paid

~~~~*** Boy oh boy. . .well this is a nice surprise. It seems we have attracted a bit of an upshot in readers overnight. By my very best guess, I count anywhere from 11-15 readers including the previous 3. 11 people have read the last chaper at least, so I base a good bit on that. I'm no math wizz, I'll admit it.

In any case, I hope those of you who live in the States had a nice holiday. Myself, I was blessed with food poisioning on Wednesday night, and was glad that I had been smart enough to bring a bucket to my bedside before I went to sleep, if you know what I mean. My stomach is still a tad weak. But enough of my misery. I'm sure you are far more interested in the dealings of a certain young lady and the Avatar, eh?

Well, happy Thanksgiving. Dig in, and I'll see ya soon! ***~~~~

* * *

"_My mother would say I was too young to remember, but Avatar Haurran rescued me once, when I was a very small girl. I had run far from home and gotten myself lost, an he brought me home. My father says is was Uncle Loe who found me, and mother says I was too young, far too young to remember anyway. But I visit his memorial every year, and no matter what my parents say, I still remember his face."_

-Fonta

**Chapter Nine**

**A Price To Be Paid**

The farmer had Ona, Haurran and their young companion packed into the back of his cart before the dawn, and even as the sun rose they were once again rolling down the solitary road. No one spoke of the conversations of the night prior. For a while, it seemed words had completely departed. Finally, Ona found a harmless occupation to allay the silence.

"What is your name?" she coaxed the small girl once again.

Blank faced, the child merely stared with her large glossy eyes and kept her mouth shut. Ona couldn't tell if the girl was frightened, or simply being stubborn. Her small arms were wrapped (as far as they could reach) around Haurran's waist, his hand laid on her head for comfort.

"My name is Ona. What's_ your_ name?"

The girl wrinkled her brow and shoved her face into her keeper's shirt. Haurran shrugged, at a loss.

Frustrated, Ona sat back and tugged her straw hat lower over her eyes. "If we find her mother, I'm going to tell her that she's raised a hopelessly rude child."

"_Well, look there. The village,"_ Haurran announced. Ona turned.

The small village came upon them quickly. The farmer guided his cart along the road, past several mud-wall houses and shops as well as a dried fountain, before he pulled up in front of a wooden building slightly larger than the others. Here he instructed his passengers to begin unloading the bags of rice and grain while he ventured into the shop to collect his earnings.

The small girl stood aside while Ona and Haurran hefted the weighty bags. She watched them, until a tall, gangly man saw them from the street and let out a cry.

"Well!" he shouted joyfully. "Look who's turned up! It's little Fonta!"

The man let his bags fall to the ground, then stooped by the young child's side and embraced her. Ona's jaw dropped when the girl reciprocated almost immediately.

"Your parents have been worrying themselves to death over you," the man went on, ignoring both Ona and Haurran's surprised looks. "By the spirits' toes, where have you been child?"

The girl, Fonta as the stranger had called her, cast her eyes down in shame. "I. . . got lost, Uncle Loe," she whispered. Ona was yet even more surprised to hear her speak.

The man pulled on his small beard and shook his head. He clucked his tongue, making a _tsk-_ing sound that seemed to further reproach the child. Fonta squirmed restlessly, finally turning to Haurran and clutching his leg in desperation.

As her tears wet Haurran's pant leg, the girl mumbled wetly about wandering away from home a day or so before, becoming lost and not knowing what to do. Half her words were lost to incoherent tongue flapping, and most of the rest were blocked by the fabric she held to her face. Little of her story was understood.

The man stood up and approached Haurran, oddly suspicious. "How do you know Fonta, then?" he demanded.

"We found her in a field," Ona explained. "She was lost, and we thought we would try to find her parents in the nearest village. Are you her father?"

The man laughed. "No, not her father. I'm only a friend of her family, though she calls me Uncle Loe. Loe is fine in your case, miss."

Loe turned out to be a traveler, or so he said, who had decided to visit with his old friends while he was passing through the Earth Kingdom. His dark, leathery skin bespoke months of hiking in the sun, through far more treacherous territories than either Ona or Haurran knew of. Loe had barely introduced himself before he began a raucous report of his past adventures, stunning his small audience into wide eyed, frozen captivation.

"Of course, what could I do, half buried in snow like I was," Loe went on, almost poetic in his speech. "I looked to the sky, sapphire blue like I had never seen or would ever see again, and begged the spirits for salvation. The ice wolves were ready to leap, fangs barred to rip at my flesh, and still I prayed. In the end, my devotion was my deliverance, for the moment the wolves pounced—"

The farmer had returned from the shop, his full wallet bulging on his hip. He saw the cart only half emptied, his workers engaged in sidewalk gossip, and let out a furious shout. Ona jumped.

"Get back to work! I have to be back on the road before noon you foolish children," the old farmer grumbled. He looked at Loe and scowled. "And what are you trying to sell to my workers, eh? Off with you vagabond!"

"I'm not selling anything," Loe argued. "And I'm no more of a vagabond than you are a king, farmer." Put off, he took Fonta by her hand and led her away across the street. The child went willingly and without a solitary wail, as if she had completely forgotten her adoration for Haurran.

Encouraged by the farmer's cold gaze, Ona and Haurran hurriedly dragged the last of the bags off the bed of the cart and stacked them with the rest. Once they were finished, the farmer bid them a rather hasty and unceremonious goodbye, and turning his cart around, drove away in a cloud of dust.

"Well," Ona huffed, "I guess that's the last we'll see of _him._" She looked up, seeing that the sun had a distance to travel yet before reaching its height for the day. "We have plenty of daylight. Do you think we should keep going today?"

Haurran shrugged. _"We'll need more supplies. Besides, I want to say goodbye to Fonta before we go."_

"You mean of course, you want _me_ to say goodbye," Ona said as they stalked toward where Loe and the small girl had disappeared. "You'll just stand there and look cute, let me do all the talking, as usual."

"_You think I look cute?"_

"Shut up."

They soon found Loe, sitting with Fonta in front of a small shop, sharing a steaming bowl of broth and noodles. Loe grinned when he saw them coming.

"Hello again! Returned to hear the end of my adventure, yes?" He laughed and clapped his hands. "My! I seem to have forgotten where I left off. Perhaps I should just start from the beginning."

"No, no!" Ona nearly shouted, holding up her hands. "No. Uh, actually Loe, we were kind of wondering if you could help us out with something."

Haurran glanced at Ona, but she refused to look back, so he dropped his questions and knelt down to tease Fonta. The girl giggled, and for some reason the sound made Ona's ears burn. She swallowed and ignored that also.

"You've traveled all over the world, right?" she said, and Loe opened his mouth to spout off another tale, but Ona quickly went on. "So, you would know a lot of lore, I guess. Have you heard anything about purple mist?"

Suddenly Loe's bright eyes darkened, all laughter drained away. "Where did you see purple mist?"

"In the field where we found the little girl, last night." Ona narrowed her eyes. "Have you seen it before?"

"No," the leggy traveler said sharply. His voice was softer when he next spoke. "I've only heard tales. The Breath of Elosi, it is called in darker places. If that is indeed what you saw, it is an extremely rare, and powerful omen. To think, it may have actually appeared in my time. . ."

Ona interrupted, hoping to end Loe's drifting. "Who is Elosi?"

"Elosi, the greatest spirit of guile and trade." Loe grinned again, but without mirth this time. "She is a forgotten being today. Ever since she was trapped in Dai Ten's Kingdom, she has not had the means to demonstrate her presence."

"Dai. . .Ten's Kingdom?" Ona leaned in, afraid of listening ears, but unsure why she cared.

"Usually, I would not speak such an ancient tale without a price," Loe commented, but then he nodded to where Haurran sat with Fonta on his lap. "However, you found my dear friend's lost daughter. What greater price could I ask of you, yes? And yet. . ."

Ona was growing impatient, and was only stalled by her own caution. "What do you want, old man?" she hissed.

"Only that you allow me to be the one to return her to her family." Loe shrugged. "Call me what you will, deceitful, cunning, sly. . ." he shrugged once more, "I like to have others in my debt. Saves me money and trouble."

"Deal," Ona agreed, almost before the man had stopped speaking.

"_ONA!"_ Haurran burst in, his voice riddled with all of the disbelief his face did not show.

She looked directly at him as she repeated, "I said, it's a deal."

Haurran bit his lip and turned away, not cowing, but harboring the argument for later. Ona faced Loe again.

"Tell us what you know," she said.

Loe flashed his teeth in a great, yellow smile, and cleared his throat.

* * *

"It is said that Dai Ten was the greatest architect our world has ever known. He lived long before history was scribed, back when the spirits and humanity existed almost as one. It was said that he was favored by the spirits, a jewel in their sight, and that they blessed him with great talent and vision.

"When he was a young man, Dai Ten was said to have been walking alone on a road in the forest, when he was robbed by bandits and left for dead. He bled and suffered for three days, miserable and forlorn, before the spirits finally heard his pleadings. According to legend, it took the spirits of all the elements to heal him. Fire to restore life and warmth, air to restore breath and spirit, earth to restore strength and will, and finally water to seal his wounds and being peace.

"Dai Ten was so grateful for the spirits' mercy and grace that he decided to use his talents build four great temples to their honor. He chose four locations on each corner of the earth, and began to construct four temples of fabulous size and wealth for the spirits of fire, air, earth and water. It is said that each temple took 700 years to complete, and that Dai Ten was given an extended lifetime to complete them. He used only the finest material, the most beautiful stones, the purist wood. Completed, these buildings were more beautiful than heaven, or so the legend goes.

"But then, darkness fell over Dai Ten's creation. Humanity could not manage such a transcendent gift. The grime, poverty, hatred and sin of humans only soiled the grandeur of his resplendent temples. Those who entered could only gawk at the wealth, jealously brewing in their hearts instead of prayers to the great spirits that lived among them. Even the few who were humble, and who saw the temples for what they were, feared to enter. The presence of the spirits was far too great for a human soul to suffer.

"Frustrated and distraught, Dai Ten decided to take his beautiful masterpieces to a place they could not be disturbed, or disturb others. He called upon the spirit Elosi, a powerful and knowledgeable being, to bring his sanctuaries into the spirit world. Elosi agreed, but she too was corrupted by the beauty of the temples. She gathered them from the land with a sweep of her long arms, and took them into the world of spirits.

"But she had no intention of sharing these shrines as Dai Ten had instructed. Instead, she combined the temples into one, creating a place of grandeur to live in. It was her own fabulous kingdom, locked against all others.

"Furious, Dai Ten cursed Elosi, branding her as a spirit of treachery and deceit. As his final creation he constructed a gate outside the palace, a gate that could only be opened from the outside. He sealed Elosi within his Kingdom, forever preventing escape, transforming paradise into a prison.

"To this day, it is said that only the Avatar, bridge between worlds, can open the gate and enter Dai Ten's Kingdom. There, if he brings the proper offerings, he may approach Elosi, and ask for one wish.

"At times, Elosi will steer her prison closer to our world, searching for companionship in her lonely halls. As a result, the powers of the spirits in our world are enhanced and distorted, especially those of the elements. The power of bending becomes remarkably strong, to the point where some who never could bend an element now can, or others may be able to bend more than one. All spiritual connections are exalted to greater levels. The world losses its balance when Elosi is near, only settling again when she is satisfied, and returns to the dark."

* * *

"So, there you have it," Loe sighed. "That is all I can tell you of Dai Ten's Kingdom."

Ona frowned, oddly disappointed. "You didn't mention the purple mist at all."

"Ah, a side note, nothing more." He tugged his stringy beard, his eyes shining again. "The Breath of Elosi signals her coming closer. It is only one sign, less harmful than the rest. Others would be the enhancement of bending, so much that people often harm themselves with their own arts. Also, all spiritual connections are stronger than they would be normally, as I mentioned before. Certainly the appearance of beast-like spirits, tempted by the wealth of Dai Ten's Kingdom, is a premonition of sorts." Loe shook his head. "Nothing good comes from this encounter, mind you. Elosi is a vile spirit, and the curse on her palace is great. I fear what will befall our world, if she truely is on her way."

Loe made and unhappy face. He waxed into an exhausted state, the lines on his face showing deeper and harsher than Ona had yet seen them. She looked away, disturbed. From the corner of her eye she noticed Haurran staring to the side, brooding quietly to himself. Though she listened, she couldn't hear a word from him.

"What do you know of this _wish_ Elosi will grant?" she asked after a time.

A strained laugh broke Loe's wide, course lips. "Do not pine for that, child. Certainly, the wish asked of Elosi will be granted, her deceitfulness does not lie there. It is in the price of granting it that she works her duplicity."

"What do you mean?"

Loe squinted at her, as if he was unsure he wanted to say more. Ona cast him a surprisingly harsh glare, and he caved. "I heard tell of one Avatar, long ago, who lost his lover to another man. He found the gate that led to Dai Ten's Kingdom, and brought the proper offerings to Elosi's feet. He wished for a second chance to win his beloved. Elosi granted his wish, but as a price, she told the Avatar that he had to walk around the world, and on his final step he would see his love face to face."

"Did it work?" Ona pressed. "Did he walk around the world and see her again?"

"I don't know," Loe admitted, a bit too gleefully, Ona thought. "I would think that by the time he had finished such a journey, his love would be old or dead. He would never truly receive what he wanted."

Ona fell silent, trying to arrange all the new information. She decided that she had enough to chew on, and that the sun wasn't slowing down while she sat and talked. She had to remind herself that thought the last few days had been peaceful, there were still assassins on the hunt for her and Haurran. No place was safe for long.

She stood up and beckoned Haurran to her with a glance. "Well, we need to reach the city quickly, so we had better be leaving. Thank you for the stories, Loe. They were very helpful."

"_Uncle_ Loe is fine in your case, miss," he replied, and smiled.

Ona and Haurran took their leave then, Ona nearly having to drag Haurran away as Fonta bawled loudly at his departure. She was prickeled by that familar obnoxious feeling the small girl gave her, and with a scowl, yanked roughly on Haurran's arm. He was far too sensitive for his own good.

* * *

A few hours later, Avatar and companion walked on the edge of the dusty road, side by side, though no words drifted between them. The sun had only just begun its downward arch, Ona noted. She felt weary anyway, thinking of the long trek that lay ahead.

"_Do you think what Loe told us was true?" _Haurran wondered. _"About Dai Ten's Kingdom, and the wish?"_

Ona took her time responding. "I. . .really have no idea. I'd like to believe it isn't true. One less thing to worry about. We've got enough already, don't you think?"

"_I've heard of counting blessings. . ." _he smiled, and then yawned. _"Counting worries seems a little unhealthy though."_

Ona nearly scoffed, but caught herself. "I've been thinking about what Loe said too," she said conversationally. "I wasn't sure what he meant about _spiritual connections_, but then. . .I guess how I can hear you is a kind of connection of the spirit right? I was healed by the Avatar, you _are_ the Avatar. . . in ordinary times, maybe I wouldn't have been able to hear you at all. Maybe, if everything were normal, we wouldn't have met at the fountain, and I wouldn't have tracked you down, and none of this would have ever happened."

Haurran looked thoughtful. _"Well, if you're right, and all this," _he waved a hand from his forehead toward Ona, _"is caused by some palace in the spirit world coming closer, then when it turns around and goes away. . ."_ he didn't finish, ending instead with a half-hearted shrug.

Ona let him walk ahead so she could be alone with her own musings. She remembered somewhat fretfully the first, the only, argument she had with Haurran, in the forest. She could recall only fragments of what had been said, though the prevailing feelings were still fresh. All that raw frustration, fear, and jealously had been capped and suppressed for so long, and it did not vanish with one outburst. It likely festered still.

Haurran was lonely, Ona knew that much. It was obvious, at least to her. As the Avatar he was alone, but there was nothing anyone could do about that. And how bad was it anyway? At least he would be famous, at least someone would carve a statue to him when he died. Thousands of people died alone without such delusional promises to allay their passing. She shook her head, knowing her envy was poisoning her judgment.

There was more to it than that. Being mute isolated Haurran like nothing else could. Even with the hand symbol language, he could only converse with those who could understand him. There would be no laughing, no screaming, no cheering, no singing for him. Ona knew she was something different that way at least. She had broken the wall of isolation, and she wasn't sure how happy she was about it.

At the same time, she didn't want to think about what it would be like to take that small bit of interaction away from Haurran. To put him back in the dark. It certainly wasn't a pleasant thought, so she pushed it away moodily. Walking under the sun was distracting at least. She looked up, and saw that Haurran had wandered a good way ahead, and was waiting for her to catch up.

She laughed and took her time.


	10. The Most Glorious Job

**~~~******Well, well, well...one day short of the twenty day mark, and here's a new chapter. Don't know where _that _came from...

So, _listen_ I've got a few things to ask:

- I'm wondering how much you all are daunted by the length of a chapter. When I'm writing, I tend to do this thing where I want to put a bit into the story, but then I say to myself, "No, no, no. If you put that in, then the chapter will be so long and boring that the readers will want to scream at you. . ." and then I fight with myself and compromise, which is never all that good. Maybe I'm just going nuts, over thinking a little. Please tell me if you have a length-of-chapter-issue (or any other issues, now that I think of it), because they will be growing progressively longer starting, now...

-Also, I sketched a picture of Ona's dress, but I'm not done with it yet, which is bad because I'm already bored of working on it. I'm thinking of posting it as is, so let me know if you would like to see it, and I'll update. If not, I'll just keep it to myself...

-Lastly, as I reported in my other fan fiction the other day, once AVSL is complete, I plan to move on to plain fiction writing, and move away from fanfictions. So, if you would like to know about my up-coming project (which should be interesting for anyone who has ever played an RPG game for any length of time...) please let me know about that as well and I'll give you some details.

If you don't care about any of this, then at least let me say thanks for reading this far. See ya soon everyone! ******~~~**

* * *

"_This whole thing was a complete mess, if you ask me. I waded through it though, as any champion should. There are certain things that I want to accomplish, my dreams and my goals, and I won't let anyone, not even the Avatar get in the way. Ona was only competition, food for fodder, and I struck at her weakness. Don't call it cheating, because that is definitely not what it was."_

-Basha

**Chapter 10**

**The Most Glorious Job**

Three days of steady traveling severely diminished supplies, though Haurran remained annoyingly unconcerned about the small rations. If anything, he was happier the nearer they drew to the city. Ona's feet hurt endlessly, even when she was lying down, and they flared hotly whenever she stood up. By the dawn of day four, she was too tired to even complain, which she guessed was fine by Haurran. He hardly spoke at all.

"What's the city called, anyway?" Ona asked, wincing in the noon day sun.

"_Topul, the nosiest city in the Earth Kingdom they say."_

She sighed, feeling that something else should be said, but the only word rolling around in her mind was _noisy,_ and since no complete sentences would reveal themselves, she simply resigned to silence_._ Instead, Ona shifted her pack, wishing vaguely that it was weighed down with food and water provisions, or maybe even money.

As she and Haurran continued, another thought reemerged in her head, one that she had forgotten for some time.

"You said that you knew of a way to get around without being noticed. . ."

Haurran did not look back. All he said was, _"Yes, I did say that."_

"So, what is it?" Ona frowned. She couldn't see his face, but she was almost certain that Haurran was laughing. "What is it?" she said again, a bit more roughly.

"_You'll see."_

Her eyes widened, and she stopped where she was on the road. "Tell me what it—you ARE laughing! Stop it! Tell me what we're going to do!"

He refused to answer, even though Ona poked demanding questions at him every few minutes. Haurran only smiled in a secretive, humorous sort of way and ignored her. As they walked, Ona's annoyance built on itself, higher and higher until finally it collapsed into pure curiosity. She spent half the night conjuring possibilities, chasing sleep away with visions of joining a secret underground order that only the Avatar was welcome to. Just before she fell asleep, Ona was disturbed the thought that she and Haurran would be forced apart once they arrived in the city.

A cold sensation stirred in her stomach. Though so many other things were uncertain, and even though Haurran was so often remote to her, Ona was admittedly afraid of him leaving. Could she survive _alone?_ Haurran probably could. Was he planning on deserting her in Topul? Could that be why he was in such good spirits, because he knew that he would soon be rid of her compulsive nagging?

All of a sudden the dark sky stretched overhead was daunting, and strangely menacing. The stars were too numerous, and the shifting of the rice fields was too loud. Unsettled, Ona rolled over slowly until she was facing inwardly into the small camp. She could see Haurran now, sleeping with an arm over his eyes. She focused on his face for comfort, simply because for once she had noticed the thousands of things far more frightening than him, skulking in the dark.

* * *

Topul was indeed the nosiest city Ona had ever visited, but that was chiefly due to the massive population between its walls. It took two hours just to pass the outer gates, standing in line to enter the city by the south entrance. The streets were dusty, littered with colorful papers, trash, and advertisements that had been ripped from their posts. The people were no less exotic, both the wealthy and the vagrants clothed in bright, colorful robes as they bummed and jostled each other between the tall buildings. Everywhere Ona and Haurran went they were forced to wade in a tide of bodies.

Ona suggested tethering a rope between them, to be sure they wouldn't be separated, but Haurran settled for gripping her hand as they maneuvered around the market place. She clutched his arm and didn't allow him to walk very fast, stunned silent with the overwhelming march of people and the fear of becoming lost in the dizzying expanse of buildings and shops.

At last the crowds thinned as people turned off onto separate streets. They arrived in an area that was nearly unoccupied, save for a few elderly citizens trying to escape the metropolitan chaos. Ona sat down on a bench and sighed.

"_This is the park I used to visit as a child,"_ Haurran told her. He was gazing around at the twisted trees fondly, possibly drawing out old memories. _"I always thought this city was exciting. The architecture is. . .earthy, at least."_

Ona glanced around, finding that she agreed. No building in Topul was shorter than two stories, and many were hosts to threads of vines, flowers, and in many cases, entire trees. Plants jutted out of the sides of houses and shops like overhanging rocks, and a few dedicated people had actually taken to residing in large tree trunks.

She looked up at Haurran, nervous despite herself. "So, what now?"

"_I need to visit some friends," _he said. _"I expect to be done business by sundown, maybe earlier. I'll have to collect some funds before I go."_

"What do I do?" Ona asked.

"_Stay here,"_ he gestured to the buildings ahead, "_or you can go shopping. Supplies are low, and I'd like to head toward Ba Sing Se next."_

"Wait," she snapped, "you're not. . . _leaving_ me here are you?"

"_Only for today. Keep your head on and you won't get lost, though I would put your money in your inner pocket, just to be safe." _He smiled, seeming more cheerful than Ona had ever seen him. She interoperated his look as more mischievous than excited, wondering darkly what had put him in such a good mood.

Her lack of delight sobered him, and he looked away. "_Right, so let's meet back here at sunset, agreed?"_

She nodded, gloomily deciding that she was better off staying where she was, there on the bench where she couldn't possibly become lost. She didn't watch Haurran leave, but closed her eyes and tried not to show all the worry she felt.

* * *

After only ten minutes Ona was dripping with boredom, her eyes longingly glancing at the market place ahead, though the panicky clenching in her stomach consistently kept her on the bench a while longer.

She felt an odd prickling on her neck and looked to her side, only to spot a strange old man staring at her from across the park. Over the next few minutes she threw quite a few tentative looks toward him, hoping to be fairly clandestine, and each time she found him gazing back just as brazenly as before. He didn't seem ashamed of his persistent ogling, but it was making Ona extremely uncomfortable.

Fearing that he might advance on her, Ona steeled herself and made a dramatic show of standing up and leaving the park. She didn't look back until she had rounded a corner, but the man was not following.

Ona relaxed. Even if the man had been friendly, she didn't want to meet him.

Turning, she let herself survey the market, now that she had finally worked up the nerve to approach it. She took Haurran's advice and stashed all of her money (stark as it was) in the inner pocket of her jacket, then began freely wandering the streets.

As her fears slowly ebbed away, Ona began to notice a near wonderland of attractions; food stands, merchants, hawkers and shoppers crowded the street, concocting a stunning array of smells and sights all around. She idly passed the shops, studying the window displays with interest. She took the time to enter a candy shop, then a store peddling odd jewelry, and then a remarkable building made entirely of tree branches that sold mystical treasures and toys. Ona reluctantly kept her money close to her, declining to put out even the smallest cent for what she deemed fascinating trivialities.

At the end of an hour, Ona found herself shuffling around the outside of a tavern, the stink of alcohol, sweat and what smelled like onions making her eyes burn. She squashed her fingers over her eyelids, trying to knead out the sting.

"Oh!" a feminine cry sounded close to her, "Oh! Excuse me dear_!"_

Oblivious, Ona dropped her hands and blinked repeatedly, tears from her watering eyes budding on her eyelashes. Again, a woman's voice shouted, "OH!" very close by.

And then two strong hands grabbed her shoulders. Ona shrieked and thrust her hands out, feeling the street below bulge as she tried to summon earth to her aid. A club of dirt streaked out and slashed at her attacker, but whoever had captured Ona deftly skipped out of the way and the grit fell uselessly down again.

"Now now now!" the faceless voice scolded. "Calm down, I'm sorry to startle you."

The hands softened their grip, but did not let go. Ona squinted and focused on the stranger's form. Gradually her eyes cleared, and Ona saw the face of a very lovely woman staring into her own, bright blue eyes set like diamonds in a delicately round face, bordered with soft curls of silken brown hair. The woman's sparkling red lips smiled, wide and genuine as Ona gawked at her.

"There now, not as horrendous as you thought, hm?" the stranger said. Her voice was graceful, though with a human weight.

"I- . . . What do you want?" Ona gasped.

"Oh, my dear, it's what you want, isn't it?"

"E-excuse me? I'm not sure I—"

The woman giggled, a laugh like pulsing water. "Follow me," she commanded gently, and clasped Ona's wrist in her hand, the cascade of golden bracelets on her arm clanking harmoniously.

Ona was led across the street, toward a gorgeous shop that seemed to be trimmed in lace like a dress. The golden roof flashed in the sunlight as they entered, shimmering as if it was enchanted.

Inside the room was almost as bright as the street, as five large windows poured sunlight onto the floor in yellow-white pools.

"Who have you got Jemmine?" inquired a young voice, male, though the speaker was hidden.

Ona looked around as the woman released her arm and disappeared into another room. A myriad of fabrics hung from the walls, many of them pinned to the lattice work criss-crossing the ceiling like a vibrant spider's web.

Ona gasped. Displayed around the room was the grandest collection of gowns, coats, pants and formal clothing she had ever seen. She realized as she stared that she had wandered into a dress shop, the first she had ever entered.

The woman reappeared by Ona's side, smiling again. "Now lovely, I simply _knew _I would find you. You are exactly what I've been looking for."

"Where'd you see her?" the boy's voice asked. The speaker was standing behind Ona, and she turned to look at him as he in turn considered her. "In the marketplace?"

"I did, isn't that just _poetic_?" The woman laughed. "She was just standing there, almost like a dead tree or a large, misshapen—"

"Um, _excuse me!"_ Ona burst out. "I have no idea what you're talking about. What do you want?"

The woman looked dazed for a moment, but then she laughed and fanned herself with her hand. "Oh! How rude! I was so excited I just—My dear, my name is Jemmine, and that is my nephew Den."

She paused, and Ona realized that the woman wanted to know Ona's name as well. Warily, she introduced herself, eyeing Den suspiciously. The boy was gazing at her with far too much interest.

"A beautiful name," Jemmine said. "I suppose its short for Onatha, yes? Oh! How _exquisite !_ Absolutely _divine, _yes_!"_

"I really don't understand what-"

Den's hands shot out and snapped onto Ona's waist. She instantly twisted around and made to slap him, but he dogged her attack just as easily as his aunt had done earlier. He held up a strand of measuring cord, looking innocent. "Just collecting measurements, no need to be feisty!"

Ona flushed deep red. She desperately wanted to leave, but Den was blocking the path to the door. "You still haven't told me what's going on!" she cried.

"Oh, dear it's the most romantic thing," Jemmine said dreamily. "This shop has been here for fifty years, built by my grandfather's own hands."

Ona listened, but in her mind she was wondering how difficult it would be to vault through the nearest glass window. She would prefer the cuts over Den touching her again.

". . .and then ten years ago, the most _handsome_ made came through our door," the erratic woman was still talking. Ona edged toward the window. "Oh, it was so sad. His beloved wife had just passed away, which I and at such a young age it was _tragic_, but true. The poor man was alone. He had come to give me a dress, one that he had meant to give his lover, but that was useless to him now."

Ona took a rather obvious step closer to the window, but Den saw her and intercepted casually. She glared at him.

". . . He told me to give the wonderful gown to a worthy young woman, one I saw to be very special. I swore that I would, and I waited for all these years, and _now.._."

Jemmine fixed her dazzling eyes on Ona, sighing rapturously. "And now, I've found you!"

"I really don't think you have," Ona protested. "I'm not much of a dress-wearer. . .I really should be going-"

"NO! PLEASE!" Jemmine yelped. She looked desperately at her captive, as if suddenly their roles had been reversed. "Please, please, just try on the dress! It will only take a moment, and I've waited so long. I only want to see it on you, please!"

Ona could feel her face shading red again, and the realization made her even more embarrassed. "Isn't there anyone else you could—"

"No, you're the only one I've seen!"

"I'm not exactly _made_ for dresses…"

"This dress is meant for you!"

"I can't—"

"PLEASE!"

Ona hesitated, shooting her eyes from Den to Jemmine. She sighed. "Alright. But then can I go?"

With a squeal of joy, Jemmine grabbed Ona's wrist again and tugged her toward the dressing rooms. A few moments later she arrived with the dress, wrapped in a protective silk drape. She shoved the entire package into Ona's arms, then rudely pushed her into the small changing room, hastily shutting the door behind.

An awkward, resentful sensation surged thorough Ona as she stood, motionless in the dressing room. She had the strongest desire to hide in the small space forever, away from Jemmine and Den's expectant eyes. Away from the city, away from the assassins hunting her, and even away from Haurran. She felt foolish, wasting time in a gown shop. What would he think of her if he knew? Even Nokki would have laughed.

One thing she was sure of was that she did not want to see herself in that dress. She didn't even want to unwrap it. If it really was beautiful, she was certain that she would dishonor its grace just by looking at it. Jemmine would be so disappointed, but then, she would be disappointed anyway when she realized just how plain Ona was.

_What a joke, _Ona scoffed.

"Dear, how are you doing?" Jemmine asked kindly. Ona could hear the hope in her voice.

"F-fine…" She sighed. This did seem to be important, if not for Ona, then for Jemmine. She was a strange woman, but her benevolence was just as plain as her dreamy passions. And besides, once Ona tried on the gown, she was free to go, right?

Reassured, Ona shoved away her misgivings and unwrapped the dress. She tried not to look at it excessively, hurrying to change. Even so, flashes of gold and rich earth tones caught her eye as she threw the soft fabric over her head.

"Are you ready yet dear?"

Finally, Ona had the dress situated correctly over her shoulders. Anticipating a disaster, she pushed open the door and stepped out to where Jemmine and Den could see her. She shut her eyes, refusing to look down.

Her appearance was met with silence, as she had expected. Raising her chin, Ona peeped open her eyes with great apprehension.

Jemmine seemed stunned, and for the first time, speechless. Her long fingers covered her mouth and nose so that only her large, bright eyes were visible. Ona wasn't sure what to make of the woman's expression; she couldn't tell if it was disgust, shock, or humiliation she was feeling.

"It needs something," Den muttered. With a sharp turn he exited the dressing area, strong determination in his stride as he made his way toward the front of the store.

Jemmine meanwhile, seemed to have found her voice. "Ona, dear, you must see yourself. I'll go find the mirror." And then she too hurried away, leaving Ona alone, now wishing even more that she had jumped through the window when she'd had the chance.

Den was the first to return. He smiled thinly as he drew close, an odd, questioning look on his pale face. "May I?" he asked, almost jokily.

Ona merely started at him, unsure of what he was asking about, until he reached out and delicately lifted her hand, gently fastening a sparkling gold bracelet around her wrist.

"There," stepped back and sighed, "truly beautiful."

Inwardly Ona told herself he was lying. She was feeling no less embarrassed, with Den standing there studying her in what she was coming to understand was the appraising, dubious expression he likely turned on everything he looked at. In the back of her mind, Ona felt as if she were doing something almost criminal by wearing the dress. She was breaking some unspoken rule, fancying herself in a position that she did not belong. Den's judgmental stare did not help sooth her in the least.

"You don't believe me, hm?" he muttered.

Ona didn't turn to him, feeling marginally more comfortable with her eyes elsewhere. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You don't believe that you're beautiful, do you?"

She froze, coils of cold resentment swimming upwards through her veins. She didn't say anything, but felt her face growing hot once again.

Den made a sad noise, something like a strangled chuckle, and leaned against one of the nearby tables, still watching her. "You know, I see a lot of different girls come in here," he said, not sounding so much like himself anymore. "I see. . .confident girls, who are sure they know exactly what they want, and they give Jemmine and I a hard time, as if we don't _get_ them, as if we can never satisfy their needs." He laughed, and admitted, "Well, I guess we can't really, in truth. And then, I see plenty of girls who are scared out of their minds to be seen in anything besides pants, though they're always glad they came when we're done."

"And… I see girls who are just longing for something else; attention, love, popularity, whatever…"

He paused for a long time, shaking his head slowly, chewing his lip and staring at the floor. Ona still kept her gaze away from him, discomfort growing in her stomach with every word he spoke.

"You know what?" Den went on, softer now. "They're all trying to prove something. Jemmine always says 'beauty is painful', but not just because you have to paint your face and twist your hair and sit up straight and squeeze into the smallest dress you can. It's painful because the work never really ends. If anything, the expectations grow larger every day, and everyone has to crawl farther just to be noticed."

With a small jerk he pushed away from the table and approached Ona again. She glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice, smiling in his characteristic sly, though oddly charismatic way.

"Not that it can't be fun," he confessed. "Jemmine and I would be out of a job if vanity wasn't worth something. When people feel beautiful on the outside, their confidence inside becomes so much stronger, so much greater, and that's something that we both love to see. It's what makes this job somewhat glorious. But. . .sometimes I just wonder, what's it all for?"

Ona didn't think she was meant to answer this question, which was nice because she had no answer to give. Den had set himself on a track of thinking that obviously concerned him greatly. She would just have to let him talk, she decided.

But then he leaned in next to her and whispered something that actually surprised her enough to make her face him.

"Would you like to know the secret to ceaseless beauty?" he asked, looking at her very seriously. All the smug appraisal had dissolved from his eyes, giving him an unsettling somberness that both caught and held Ona's attention.

Ona could not keep the longing from her own face, and knew that Den saw her interest there. She was glad that he didn't laugh. "What is it?" she said.

He smiled kindly. "Don't tease."

"I won't, I promise."

"The secret," he said slowly just to torture her, "is simple. There's no magic, no special clothes or formulas. Simple."

Ona scowled, disguising desperation by feigning anger. "_What is it? _Tell me before I have to hurt you."

"Easy now," he goaded, fully enjoying himself. "Don't get so worked up. I'll tell you if you stop glaring at me. Come on then, show us a smile, hm?"

Sighing, Ona raised her eyebrows and briefly forced her lips upwards into a comical grin. An instant later the expression was nullified by the reappearance of her narrow-eyed glare.

Den was so amused by this show that he laughed loud and richly, and Ona felt for a moment that she could relax in his presence. He wiped his eyes and muttered, "Alright, alright you win. Listen up then, here's the secret. . ."

He looked directly into Ona's face, once again all business. "When you are seen through the eyes of someone who truly loves you, you can only appear radiant. To that person, no amount of blemishes could ever make you seem _ugly, _for they simply cannot see you as anything except what you really are: _perfect."_

Ona felt her mind lock at this revelation, as if she were offended by the words. Den, on the other hand, had a look on his face that barred all questioning. He was gravely convinced that everything he had just reported was absolutely true.

"Still don't believe me, do you?"

Ona was once again lost for words. "I- -"

"If you're unsure, why don't you just ask _him?_"

She blinked. "Who?"

Den pointed his finger toward a window a few feet away that looked out onto the busy market street. Between the lavish velvet curtains draped around the sides of the glass, Ona saw a familiar face watching her and Den from outside.

Haurran gazed through the window, holding several bags in his hands and smiling with genuine pleasure.

"He's been standing there nearly ten minutes," Den said musingly. "You know him?"

Ona's throat became so dry and constricted she could hardly breathe, let alone answer. Haurran saw that she had noticed him, and he waved one burdened hand to her.

"Oh _no,_" she gasped. She glanced again at the street; just to be sure she had seen what she thought she saw. "How could they—"

Without pausing she leapt at the window, gesturing frantically to Haurran, trying to urge him to turn around. At first he was confuse, but then he seemed to understand by the urgency with which she pointed behind him, and though the glass window muted her shouts, the message was clear that he was in danger.

Haurran whirled and searched the crowd, scanning faces but failing to find what Ona had seen. Stealthy, though encumbered by his bags, he tried to melt into the crowd, still frisking his eyes around him in dreadful anxiety. A large cart weighed down with barrels of an odd-smelling draft rolled by him, and he squashed himself to its side to hind behind.

Inside the dress shop Ona had immediately rushed toward the door, Den hustling just behind her, barking questions with his sharp voice that she did not answer. She brushed past Jemmine, who was halfway through a muttered sentence about having loaned her transportable figure-length mirror to the armor, when Ona ran past, seized the door handle and rushed outside.

On the street she found herself nearly shoving people out of her way as she moved toward where she had seen Haurran. The memory flashed into her mind again, a vision of a dark haired young man, dressed in an even darker cloak, talking with the old man who had been staring at Ona in the park. The youth had turned, intelligent eyes spearing Haurran's back, and moved toward him, cutting easily across the throng. He had almost reached his target when Haurran had caught Ona's warning and turned, but a cart had rumbled past, preventing him from seeing the other man. After that, Ona had run to the door, and lost sight of them both.

_He must be one of the assassins, and so was that old man. _She thought wildly. _No wonder he was watching me!_

She searched for several minutes, but came up empty even as she hunted through the masses for Haurran's brown hair and green vest. Den found her quickly, and demanded to know what had happened.

"I—I thought I saw something," she said truthfully.

"Come back inside," he said, trying to sooth her. "Don't you want to change back into your own clothes?"

Still lightly apprehensive, Ona agreed, constantly checking over her shoulder as Den guided her back into the shop. She did not spot the strange men, and still ignored Den's interrogation. In the distance she could make out the shape of the cart, pushing through the streets with a cloud of dust bubbling behind, and hopped fitfully that Haurran was alright.


	11. A Dance In Perfect Time

**~~~**** Hello everyone, sorry for the long wait (if it seemed long to you, heh.) Middle chapters are powerful story killers, and reader killers if you know what I mean. Hopefully I will recover my muse soon, now that school has begun again. I'll get a little air in my head, work my brain a bit, and keep cranking out the chapters for you. If you're bored, I pray my promise of excitement to come will sustain you! Enjoy this bit, and let me know of any errors I have missed. Until then, see ya soon! ****~~~**

* * *

"_They were a remarkable pair, that was always clear. Neither one of them understood, at least in the early days, how marvelous they could be together, nor how brittle they were apart."_

-Den

**Chapter Eleven**

**A Dance in Perfect Time**

Freed from Den's concerned probing and Jemmine's blissful lauding at last, Ona departed the dress shop anxiously, though without any decided plan or destination in her mind. Standing outside, she felt herself stooping as if to hide from any peering eyes. She moved along the street in the shadows, creeping so close to the buildings that her shoulders often scrapped their earthy walls.

She had no idea where Haurran had gone, or for that matter, how he had known she was in the dress shop in the first place. Most of all, she worried that every man she passed was another assassin with a knife or a sword veiled behind his cloak, ready to capture her the moment her back turned.

In the end Ona returned to the park, fretful and tired. She climbed the hill out of the marketplace, keeping her eyes low and striding purposefully without glancing at anyone around.

At first, she thought the park was abandoned save for an odd cart by the center. Her heart clenched. The sun was beginning to set now. What if she didn't find Haurran by sundown? What if she didn't find him at all?

Her panic shattered when she spotted him, resting by a tree, standing very close to the elaborate cart. She thought he was waiting for her, and hurried toward him in a cloud of relief.

"There you are," Ona said. Her voice was weak instead of angry, bearing all her unease.

Haurran looked at her and smiled widely. _"Have fun today, did we?"_

No answer came, biting or otherwise. Ona could only think of seeking out a small cubby to hide in, to shield herself from all the world's challenges. She would have liked to sink into the earth that very moment.

Reading her apprehension, Haurran gestured to the cart. A grin broke onto his face again as if he couldn't suppress his mysterious joy.

"What?" Ona muttered.

"_This is it."_

She frowned. "This is what? The cart?"

He nodded, his eyes widening with his smile. _"This is the same cart I traveled in with my parents when I was a kid! We had the most popular road show in the kingdom back then. By the time I was five we were averaging crowds in the hundreds with every performance-"_

"Performance?" Ona repeated. "What. . . you mean, like traveling performers? Like a circus?"

"_Well, we only traveled with the circus in certain seasons,"_ Haurran corrected casually. _"Mostly we stuck to street corners and bars, but we did the best during festivals of course."_

Ona licked her lips, looking from Haurran to the cart and back several times. She wasn't sure if his childish beam or the colorful, brassy sides of the performance cart frightened her more.

"Are we going to be traveling in _this?_" she asked softly.

"_Yup, isn't it brilliant?"_ he laughed. "_Performers are allowed to go just about everywhere. And you won't believe the gossip and information we'll hear, seeing how so many people will like to use us to deliver messages to others as we go down the road."_

"Are you going to perform?" Ona choked. She couldn't imagine Haurranstanding on any kind of stage, showing any talents at all. "What will you do?"

"_Not just me,"_ he said. _"We'll both have to do acts. You'll be out there too."_

"What?" she snapped, paling dramatically. "Are you serious? I can't…I don't know how to… Isn't it a bad idea to be marching around showing ourselves to every bundle of people we meet? Shouldn't we be, you know, lying low?"

"_No, no. We're much safer this way." _He shrugged. _"No one will question us once we're in costume. We'll blend in perfectly as long as we perform, no matter where we go. Palaces, restricted roads, military camps. We can go anywhere."_

"That makes no sense," Ona breathed. "This is a terrible idea. We can't hide when we're doing a road show!"

His enthusiasm softened, and he touched her shoulders reassuringly. _"It'll work, I promise. There's no better way to hide, I know."_

"How can you _know?"_

"_Well," _he sighed. _"I knew I was the Avatar by the time I was four, and my parents knew long before I did. Doric, however, didn't begin my training until I was almost twelve. Neither he, or anyone else, could find me until then, no matter how much they searched."_

Ona wrapped her arms around herself, sifting side to side as she wondered at what he'd told her. "Why couldn't they find you?"

"_Once we're on the road, you'll see_," he answered. "_There's no better disguise than a performer's costume."_

"Well. . .what's going to tow the cart?" she pressed, searching for any loophole. "We can't afford an animal."

Haurran clapped his hands excitedly and pointed to the far side of the cart. Ona reluctantly glanced the way he indicated, and caught a glimpse of grey fur, something that looked frighteningly like horns, and a large paw by the harness on the ground. She looked back to Haurran, frowning once again.

"What is it?"

"It _is named ShinShi,_" he retorted. _"And _she _has been pulling this cart for my family since I was born. Come see her!"_

He disappeared around the edge of the cart, and after a nervous moment, Ona followed. She braced herself as she rounded the corner, conjured images of what sort of meaty, toothed creature _ShinShi _could possibly be bubbling in her mind.

As it turned out, all of Ona's presumptions had missed their mark by miles. Sitting mildly on the grass was a beast of such arresting beauty that she could nearly be called mystical. ShinShi blinked her liquid black eyes as Ona gawked at her smooth grey coat, spotted with white like the snowy face of a mountain, and flicked her curved ears as Haurran patted her long, fox-like nose. Most impressive were the curling horns adorning the creature's skull. Though obviously solid and stone hard, the sunlight could swim through their pearly surface, casting a ruby glow in their depths that lent them even greater grandeur.

"What is she?" Ona asked, afraid to approach any closer.

"_A Horned Fox,_" he said. _"Kind of a poor title, I suppose. You don't see many of them around anymore, since they tend to keep to themselves these days. ShinShi left her family to be my spirit animal a long time ago, so I guess I'm pretty lucky to have her."_

"Your spirit animal? What's that?"

Haurran glanced at Ona, still stroking the Fox's majestic, brawny flank. _"Every Avatar has a spirit animal to help them. It's been that way from the beginning."_

"Oh," she said, blushing. She glowered defensively and said, "So your spirit animal is a rare Horned Fox that few people ever see, and you put her to good use pulling your cart across the kingdom?"

He didn't reply, except to scowl lightly as he turned his back. Eventually he told Ona that their travels would continue the next day, and that they would make tracks for Ba Sing Se.

"_I'd like to do our first performance there," _he said. _"It's still a small city, though growing quickly. We'll start rehearsing on the road tomorrow."_

Ona fell against the side of the cart, her arms folding over her chest as she sighed. "I can't wait."

"_By the way," _Haurran said, moving slightly closer. _"Did you see something in the marketplace today? Did you spot the assassins?"_

Ona thought back to the dress shop window, and the memory of the two men, one youthful and strong and the other old but sharp-eyed, came to her. She nodded and described how the younger man had spotted Haurran and tried to approach him.

"I didn't know them, but the old man had been watching us in the park earlier," she admitted. "I didn't trust them. Maybe it was a mistake."

He shook his head. _"It sounds like Toka and Kohmatzu. They're following us now too, it seems."_

"Who are they?"

"_Two of my old masters. Toka taught water bending, and Kohmatzu taught air bending."_ He smiled briefly, and sat on the lip of the cart. _"They were the kindest of the masters I had. Both were patient with me, even though I could never speak to them."_

At first, Ona was unsure of what he meant. She knew, of course, that Haurran had no voice, but he was not the first mute on the planet. A system, a language, in truth, of hand gestures and symbols had been devised over the years. Its sole purpose was to allow the mute and deaf to communicate with others, and therefore Haurran should know it. In fact, she knew he did, as he would often unconsciously display the gestures when he was speaking to her.

"_Doric taught me a different system,"_ Haurran answered when she inquired. _"My parents did their best to teach me the universal hand symbol language, but they were learning it near the same rate I was. When I was taken away to begin my training, Doric used symbols from a long forgotten system to communicate with me." _He shrugged, idly twisting one of the cart's golden tassels between his fingers._ "I've forgotten much of what my parents showed me. Save for Doric, no one I've met understands the language I'm using."_

A cold depression sank over Ona. "So, for the last four years…the only person you've been able to talk to….is Doric?"

"_Well, as far as people go, yes. But in the Spirit World I can speak just as anyone else would. That is, if the spirits would let me get a word in edge-wise. You should hear how they talk,"_ Haurran grinned. _"They can't seem to grasp the concept of listening very well."_

Silence spread between them, unbroken as Ona struggled for words. She couldn't tell if Haurran's humor were forced or real. His face showed little signs, as usual, though recently his outward movements appeared more animated.

Words that needed to be spoken were haunting Ona now. They had been for some time, in fact. In the past she'd allowed opportunities to pass, hurried them away with pride. Now though, she felt completely different. For a moment, however brief, she had realized how little chance she stood of survival without Haurran's direction and knowledge. To think that she could be alone now greatly disturbed her.

These broodings connected to another truth that Ona had been ignoring. Recalling the bitter seed that had been growing in her mind these last days, Ona realized that Haurran's patience with her bordered on supernatural. She snapped at him, complained or belittled him with nearly every word, and yet, he had restrained from anger. He had taken his place as a guide, and not faltered in it. And all this time she had been ungrateful, callous even, toward his sacrifices. She remembered many heartless remarks, least of all the moment she had branded Haurran as a "_monster"_ when he'd told her not to return home to her parents.

"I'm sorry," Ona murmured, and waited.

Haurran eyes flicked to her. He didn't seem to understand what she'd said.

"I'm sorry," she said again, "for being horrible to you."

For a moment, she thought not to look at him, but then her gaze wandered up to meet his. He smiled, and nodded placidly.

"_Don't worry about it,_" he said. "_I hardly even noticed."_

* * *

After some mild negotiating at the gate, Ona and Haurran eventually passed the guards and drove their fantastical cart onto the road. As Haurran told it, friends of his family had been caring for the cart since the day he had begun his Avatar training. Thankfully, these apparently kindly people had kept it and ShinShi in perfect condition through the years.

"_My parents abandoned the performer's life after I left," _Haurran explained. "_They said they were getting old for it, but I just think they lost their motivation."_

"Have you seen them?" Ona asked. She was suddenly interested to know what parents of the Avatar were like.

But Haurran shook his head. "_They stopped writing to me last year. I'm not sure where they've gone."_

He said this with such a lack of emotion that Ona could not help looking at him with concern. She thought that if she were in his position, she would worry endlessly about her parents. She did, in fact, worry about her own family every day, even her younger siblings who she barely knew. Oddly, this time away from them had increased her attachment to her brothers and sisters in bounds.

By noon they had traveled several miles, and Haurran found a fairly shady area to pause for a rest. Ona watched as he opened one of a dozen strange compartments in the sides of the cart, revealing a stock of olive colored fruits and a few jars of some grey, meaty substance.

Jumping into the rear where countless other materials were stored, Haurran found a strip of cloth into which he dumped several of the berries and two slices of meat. He tied the cloth into a ball, its contents secured inside, and strapped it to his belt.

Next he freed Shinshi from her harness and walked her into the grass. The Horned Fox poked her nose curiously around his hips, apparently smelling the meal that had been prepared for her. Kindly, he held her at bay for a moment.

"_Wait now,_" Haurran told her, slowly retrieving the cloth ball. A smile stretched across his face as he smacked his foot on the ground, opening a hole deep into the earth, and dropped the ball into the pit. ShinShi growled playfully as he filled in the gap with dirt.

Ona could not understand what he was up to, until Haurran stepped back, and the fox instantly pounced on the spot where her dinner was buried. She dug frantically, but with astounding power as her wide paws and curved claws tore through the earth, burrowing several feet in moments.

"_That should keep her busy for a little while," _Haurran said, watching ShinShi plow through the ground. "_We can practice while we wait."_

"Practice?" Ona was swept with dread. "You mean, practice for the circus?"

"_Basically. Come over here, there's more room."_

Tentatively, she followed him to an open space in the patched grass. She hoped deeply that Haurran's idea of performing did not involve dancing. Except for walking and earth bending, Ona knew she was the definition of uncoordinated.

"What will we do?" she asked, frightened of his answer.

"_Don't worry, it's just earth bending,"_ he said. _"You've been doing this for years."_

Relieved, but still cautious, she wanted to know more. "Just…regular earth bending? That's all?"

"_Well,_" There it was; that word she didn't want to hear. _"It is and it isn't. You see, people have seen earth bending before. Even really good earth bending is old news. We'll never keep a crowd with an act like that."_

"Oh, right, of course. So what do we do instead?"

Haurran had been smiling at her in a cautious way as he spoke, his attempt to appear reassuring. She was only unnerved by this look and wished he would stop. She could feel his anxiety like drops of cold rain dripping in her mind.

"_What I mean is we have to do something different. And I have an idea," _he offered. "_It's the way Master Toka tried to teach me water bending. He said that any element can be bent like any other element, because they are all connected." _He made a circle with his hands as an example. "_In this case, bending earth like water."_

Ona raised her eyebrows. "Is that even possible?"

"_Yes, watch." _Haurran faced her, raising his hands up fluidly. Concentrating, he pulled a clod of earth from the ground, lifting it before him in a smooth motion unlike the traditional earth bender's stomp. Ona was reminded of Basha and Nokki's slow, river-like movements as Haurran stretched the earth out sideways, and then spun it around his back and between his arms. Watching him dance the earth around him, Ona could see why a crowd would be impressed by this show. He truly was bending earth as if it were water.

When he had finished, he twirled the dirt back into the ground, just like dropping water into a lake. Ona clapped lightly, and Haurran bowed with a smirk.

"_Alright,"_ he said. "_You try now."_

Ona nodded, trying to remember his exact movements. She felt secure still, and glad for the chance to engage the earth once again. She couldn't remember the last time she'd truly practiced earth bending, as journeying this far had eaten up so much time and energy. Haurran gazed at her wordlessly, the temper in his eyes a softer version of Den's evaluating look.

Confident that her display would be impressive, Ona reached out to the earth mildly, alerting it to the movements of her body. The connection successfully forged, she dipped her hands and then raised them up.

A twirl of loose dust fluttered weakly around her ankles, but not even the pebbles moved. She frowned, sickly embarrassed, and tried again. Once more the ground lay still, as if deaf to her call.

Before Haurran could say anything, she quickly redoubled the strength of her pull, more forcefully beckoning the grit to her command, and lifted again. This time at least the earth moved slightly, but not enough. A few clumps of dirt rose at her, but that was all.

Blushing, Ona attempted the movement again, but this time adding a muscled kick as her arms flew up. At last she was rewarded with a sizeable mound of rock that burst from the ground, which she showed abashedly to Haurran.

"Guess I'm a little rusty," she muttered.

"_No, you've just never done this style before." _He demonstrated again, exaggerating his motions for her to better grasp. "_I'll admit, it is difficult to communicate to earth in such a gentle way, but it can be done. Especially by an expert earth bender, given time." _He smiled encouragingly._ "Try again."_

She obeyed, mimicking Haurran like a mirror as he moved. Her bending improved marginally, though her attempt to lift the earth was nowhere near as sinuous as his. Rather than give way to frustration, Ona locked her doubts away and focused on improving details. Posture, foot and leg position, tightness of muscles and the position of her arms were all factors that influenced bending greatly.

Haurran left her to practice on her own, wandering off to tend ShinShi and shift though the supplies for a meal. Despite his calls for her to join him, Ona refused. An hour later she was still fighting with her own bending, repeatedly throwing her arms down in anger as every attempt failed to please her.

At last, Haurran tired of watching her berate herself, and wandered over to calm her down.

She was struggling to compose her aggrivation, red-eyed and pale as he approached. She couldn't believe she was childish enough to cry from frustration, and silently loosed a painful reprimand on herself.

"_Not irritated, are we?"_

She glanced at him, and then quickly turned away to try bending again. "I have some more respect for you now, at least," she mumbled. "I. . .I thought I was _good_ at earth bending, but-"

"_Now, now, let's not go there." _Haurran moved next to her, once again expressionless. _"You are an excellent earth bender and you know it. But this is something new. You just haven't been stretched in a while. Let's try this, put your hands up."_

Sniffling, Ona raised her hands palm up, and tried very hard not to spit venomous comments at Haurran while he was so close. She told herself she would only feel guilty later.

Haurran carefully lifted his own hands, so that his palms faced Ona directly. He waited, expecting her to understand what he wanted. Ona had a clue, but the thought sent her stomach churning nervously. Slowly, she pressed her hands against Haurran's, studying his face for any trace of a smirk. She would have slapped him if she'd seen it.

"_Good, now we'll do this together,"_ he said. "_Your job is to not let your hands separate from mine. Easy. Let's start slow."_

She nodded, and bit her lip as Haurran gradually moved his arms up, and then down, and to each side. She could feel where he intended to go, and found it easy to keep their hands together. It seemed at first like a useless exercise.

But then Huarran moved organically, with no straight course for her to follow. He circled his arms around, up and through waves, increasing speed every second. Ona nearly lost him several times, but managed to hang on with her fingertips.

"_This kind of movement is all about being adaptable,"_ he told her. "_Earth is solid, unyielding, and its greatest quality is its ability to stand still. But now, we are asking it to move. We ask it to change, to adapt, the way water alters to fit any situation. It is not an easy shift to make, for the element, or for people."_

Moving faster still, Haurran added footwork for Ona to follow. He backed in circles or pushed forward or reached to the side, turning either hand in separate directions. She soon found the rhythm he was tracking, and paralleled him with increasing ease. He guided her through the majestic sweeps common to water bending, twisting them into a running waltz. It was not long before she was laughing, instead of glaring at him.

"It's like a dance," she observed.

Haurran relaxed, dropping his arms wearily. "_So it is. That's what Master Toka told me a thousand times. Though I rarely listened."_

Though he rested, Ona continued on. Her steps were still weighted and her movements heavy, but this time when she lifted the earth it responded readily. A wave of dust and rocks flew up to her, and she arched them over her head, and back to the ground as elegantly as a true water bender.

"_Very nice," _Haurran lauded. "_I'll have to start practicing my instruments again. We'll be ready to perform in no time."_

Ona paled at this. She had only just begun an entirely new form of bending. _"No time" _did not seem like _enough_ time to her.

"Then I'll practice too," she said, as if defying something. "Pretty soon _I'll_ be teaching _you_ how to do things."

Hurran rolled his eyes, grinning. _"Come on, we should travel some more before dusk. It's a long way to Ba Sing Se."_

Still cheerful despite herself, Ona raced him to the cart. Although they usually traveled silently, Ona could not help talking excitedly as she rode, spilling numerous questions at Haurran about his life as a performer. From what she gathered, it would be a fairly remarkable trip to Ba Sing Se.

* * *

It was late at night, but Ona could not sleep. She sat up by the fire and gazed absently into the coals as the heat numbed her face. Haurran slept on his bedroll in the cart, exhausted after a full day of journeying, and though she felt the same, she could not bring herself to lay still.

Three days had passed since they had put Topul behind them. In those three days Ona had slept minimally, and was suffering sorely for it. She shivered in spite of the balmy temperature, and tilted her head toward the stars, contemplations filling her mind.

Oddly enough, the thoughts foremost in her mind involved the story Loe had told of Dai Ten's Kingdom. Until now she had regarded it as an arcane fairy tale, but now, with the glory of night around her, she could almost believe it.

If the story were true, and if Elosi were a real spirit trapped in a real palace. . .a spirit who would grant any wish. . .

_What would I wish for? _she thought. Of course, many possibilities came to mind instantly. Fame, money, or talent were among the first she considered, but then she remembered that Elosi would ask a price for any wish. That fact alone complicated things. What if a more lofty wish required a greater price? That was likely the case, so Ona dared not wish for anything extravagant.

Soon her mind drifted to other things, wandering on as the night aged. Eventually the fired died, and Ona moved to the cart, wrapped herself in a blanket, and decided to wait until dawn. She didn't notice that she had drifted off, until she felt a hand touch her arm and startle her awake.

She nearly screamed, except her mouth was suddenly covered by a cold palm. A short figure stood in front of her where she sat on the lip of the cart, blocking her escape.

"Hush up, Onatha, it's me!"

Ona stopped, ready to tear the hand away from her mouth. "Den?"

The figure leaned closer, and Den's freckled, sharp-eyed face emerged from the shadows. He smirked at her, and she nearly bit his fingers.

"What are you doing here?"

He laughed. "I followed you. You move fast, what kind of beefy monster have you got pulling this cart, anyway?"

"It's a Horned Fox," Ona whispered. She hoped Haurran would not wake up to see this exchange.

"A what?"

She scowled. "Shut up, never mind. Why are you here?"

Den shrugged and stepped back. "Jemmine was getting on my nerves."

"You are a liar and a freak," Ona growled. "What, then, do you want?"

"A ride to the nearest city."

"What else?"

He shook his head. "Nothing else. Just company on the long road ahead..."

Ona shook her head, sighing sharply. "This could have waited until tomorrow. I was just falling asleep too."

"Well, I have to travel day and night to catch up to you," Den said. "I wanted to be sure that I was close. Besides, I wanted to scare you a little."

"I was one second away from killing you," she growled. "Who would have been scared then?"

"Ona, Ona," he chuckled. "You need to be more open minded. What do you say, hm? Will you have me on your fabulous adventure?"

She narrowed her eyes, suspicious even though he seemed sincere. "You'll have to take it up with Haurran. It's his cart."

"_His _cart, hmm?" Den teased.

Ona kicked him, aiming for his stomach but smacking his leg instead. "Go away! If you wake Haurran up I swear I'll sink you twenty feet into the ground. He doesn't sleep enough as is."

"Alright, alright," he innocently held up his hands. "I'll make camp and come back in the morning. As long as you promise not to leave without me."

"Better be up early, then."

He smiled at her, turned to leave, and then swiveled back around again. "Before I forget, I want to give this to you now." He dug a small package out of his bag and tossed it to her. She caught it, and was about to ask what it was, but Den had already moved away.

Sighing, she loosed the string around the parcel and peeled back the cloth. Inside was the golden bracelet Den had put on her in the dress shop, shining dully in starlight. For an unknown reason, the circlet sent an unsettling feeling through her, as if she had seen a dark omen in the polished gold.

Frowning, Ona dropped the bracelet into a drawer and fell over on her bedroll to try and fall asleep.

* * *

Basha saw the men walk in, and followed them with her diamond eyes as they shifted through the shadows toward her table. There were two of them, one massive and the other his physical opposite. Both wore cloaks with large hoods, and neither of them spoke until after they had sat down.

"You can drop your hoods, boys," she told them coolly. "There are plenty of more suspicious people here besides you two."

"We have little time to spend on idle chatter," snapped the smaller man. He cautiously pushed the hood off his skull, though Basha would have preferred that he kept it on. The sagging skin under the man's black eyes was stained purple, and his lips and teeth were a sickly yellow. She grimaced openly at his repulsive visage.

"Very well, let's keep this brief then." Basha pursed her lips as the larger man also revealed his face. He was no more handsome than his frail companion. "I'll tell you what you want, and you accept my conditions."

"Which are?" the bony one said. She knew his name was Doric, but cared little about such intimate details.

"I haven't quite decided. I'm sure you will hold true however," she fixed her eyes on him, "as we agreed at the competition."

The man nodded. "Of course, of course. Now, you told us that you were close to Onatha. We need to –"

"I didn't say that I was _close _to her. I said that I know her very well."

"That matters little," Doric snarled. "We ask that you tell us what you know of her habits. Where do you believe we could find her?"

Basha shrugged, tugging on her curling hair. "I really can't say. Of course, I am aware that you are chasing poor Ona across the kingdom. She could be anywhere."

Now the larger man spoke. She did not know his name, but it was obvious from his pale skin that he was from the fire nation. "What good are you to us then? A child is no great ally for our cause."

"Hmmm, but if you wanted someone who could get close to Ona, you would think she would be more likely to trust a child, wouldn't she?" Basha raised her eyebrows, still twisting her hair. "We may not be friends, but I can guarantee that she is far fonder of me than she is of either of you."

"A valuable statement," Doric admitted. "However, it will do us little good if we cannot locate the girl, or the Avatar. This operation has a limited window for success. Time is of great value as well."

Basha nodded and idly tapped her long nails on the wooden table, wishing she had ordered a meal after all. Perhaps once these wrinkled old men left, she could indulge herself.

"You will find her at the Red Isle in the Fire Nation, no more than four months from now."

Both men stared momentarily, but then found their voices.

"The Red Isle? Why would she be there?" Doric pressed.

"Winning the World Cup tournament is the goal of any competitive bender," Basha sighed. "I myself have been chasing this dream from childhood. Ona and I have both competed for years, and I can tell you that neither of us could bear to surrender a chance at taking the title. Not when we are _this_ high in the ranks."

Doric smiled favorably. "Ah, the World Cup. You truly believe nothing would keep her away? That seems foolish."

Basha let a ringing laugh escape her mouth. "Ona's life is bending. There is no person, no cause that she cares about more. I should know, we are more similar than we will ever admit." She rolled back one shoulder and tilted her head. "At the end of the season, she will show up to compete. If the Avatar is with her or not, I cannot say. But she will be there, if she has any pride, any hope at all. If you want her, all you have to do is wait."


	12. The Last Simple Day

~~~Hi everyone, I'm sure you must have been wondering if I took a nosedive off the cliff of "too bored to finish my fan fic", uh, if that makes any sense. In any case, I do apologize for the wait, and I will try to do better. It always helps if you harass me a little...I mean seriously people. Everyone who has read this far officially has my undying graditude. Check my profile page today or tomorrow to see **pictures of Den and the viinsone,** if you are interested.

Til next time, I'll see ya soon! ~~~

* * *

"_My family never approved of my decisions, which was the main reason that I left them. I had plenty of dreams for myself, and it was obvious that I could only accomplish them alone. Not that I ever had a plan. I never needed one of those."_

-Korr

**Chapter Twelve**

**The Last Simple Day**

"_Ona."_

Haurran was kneeling beside her, shaking her arm to stir her awake. Ona grumbled lazily and tried to cast him away by slapping blindly at the air.

"_Wake up, you're friend is here for you."_

"What friend?"

Haurran frowned, trying to recall the name. "_Den? I think? It's kind of strange."_

Ona pushed herself up, wincing. She'd fallen asleep on the hard wooden bed of the cart, wrapped in a blanket, but without support for her neck. Blinking to clear her eyes, she peeked around the wall as if she expected Den to be standing there, watching. Even knowing him as little as she did, Ona would not have put spying past the forward young boy.

"Spirits. I thought we'd leave him behind," she mumbled.

"_He says he wants to ride with us."_

Ona scowled. "Tell him no."

Haurran's frown turned sarcastic, and he rolled his eyes. "_Oh dear, why didn't I think of that? Guess I woke you up for nothing." _

She began to form a hotheaded response, but something in his tone and expression stopped her. Ona found herself laughing a little at Haurran's silliness.

"Alright, where is he?"

Ona stretched and made a dramatic show of rolling her neck and wrists. Haurran commented that she seemed like she was stalling, and then left to bring Den over to her. Ona sighed, feeling more than anxious as she waited.

"Morning," Den said through a grin.

"You actually showed up," she said. "I heard you were talking to Haurran?"

"I talked, he didn't." He narrowed his bright eyes and leaned closer to her. "I think he may have some serious problems socializing. Just so you know."

Ona snorted and looked insulted. "He's mute, not stupid. I'll have to . . . um . . . translate for you."

Den made a face. "Oh. Here's my offer then; you let me ride with you to Ba Sing Se, and I'll. . ." he hesitated, "well I don't have any money, but I can work just fine. I'd do anything you ask, anytime, I swear."

"You want to work? I don't really think we can put you to much use, what with those puny arms you have." Ona tilted her head and examined Den's bony wrist. "You've spent most of your life sewing dresses. You have no idea what real work is."

"_And_ _you_ _do_?" Haurran laughed silently. Ona glanced once at him, but then ignored the jab.

"Well, what kind of work is it?" Den asked. "With this cart, it looks like you two are headed for the circus."

Ona looked back briefly at the elaborate collaboration of drawers and shelves lining the inside of the cart walls. She couldn't begin to imagine all the things hidden in them. "We're supposed to be traveling performers, but we haven't come up with a full act yet."

"Do you have costumes?"

Haurran shrugged with a guilty look. "_They're really old. I'm not sure if any of them would fit either of us."_

"No, we don't have any," Ona interpreted. She cringed to think about costumes of any kind, especially old ones.

"Then I'll make them for you," Den exclaimed. "I've sewn more dresses than I can count for Jemmine! I would make you two the greatest costumes in the kingdom."

"_Is he any good, Ona?" _Haurran asked. He appeared to like the idea, even when Ona tried to dissuade him with an exasperated look. "_Nice costumes are expensive. It'd save us a lot of trouble to get them for free,"_ he argued.

"Den, it's a nice offer," she said, "but honestly we don't have room for-"

"_There's room for three, you just don't want to share."_

Ona blushed and glared at him. "I-"

Wanting to end the conversation, or perhaps simply spite her, Haurran stepped up and offered his hand to Den. "_Tell him he can come."_

"No!"

"Does that mean yes?" Den asked, grasping Haurran's hand.

"No!"

Haurran nodded.

"Alright!" Leaping into the air and clapping, Den celebrated excitedly while Ona flopped over and groaned.

"_Let's start moving now ,please. We still have a lot of road to travel before we reach Ba Sing Se."_

Den laughed happily and sat down next to Ona on the edge of the cart. She sat up huffily and stuck out her lip.

"No dresses, no frills, and no pink," she commanded. He only laughed.

* * *

By dusk they had stopped travel for the day, and pulled aside to make a fire and prepare something to eat. Haurran usually insisted on practicing the acts for their performance then, while it was still light.

Ona felt very uncomfortable with Den watching. He said that he would base the costume designs on what he saw them doing, but she still didn't like having him there.

"_How will you perform for a crowd, if you can't do it for him?"_ Haurran asked.

"A crowd is different," she said. "They're more of a faceless mass. That doesn't bother me as much as one person staring at me."

He shrugged. "_Maybe you'll get used to it. Listen, I'm going to practice my Viinsone tonight. We're going to have to decide what songs to dance to on stage."_

"What's a Viinsone?"

"It's an incredibly old instrument," Den answered. "Do you really have one? No one seems to know how to make them anymore."

Pleased that someone knew about his obscure instrument, Haurran smiled as he produced a large, oddly shaped object from one of the drawers. He brought it into the firelight and held it up for them to examine.

Ona had never seen anything like it. The Viinsone was fundamentally triangle-shaped, with a long extension on the far end. It was fairly thick, but she could see through a large hole that it was hollow inside, with half a dozen taught strings stretched horizontally across it. The auburn wood seemed to shine in the yellow light.

"How do you play it?" She wondered, plucking one of the strings.

"Pound and slide," Den answered. "The strings are made from a special substance that makes a sound when you tap it, like this." He demonstrated by bouncing the side of his thumb off one of the cords, creating a melodic humming sound. "But then, you can adjust the sound by sliding, like this." This time Den set the pad of his for finger on the string and slipped it down the length of the Viinsone. The single note drifted from a higher sound, to a lower thrum as the string continued to vibrate.

"That seems. . .nice," Ona said.

"It sounds better if you have the gloves," Den added. "And if you're any good. I've only practiced with the old Viinsone my father had, and he never bothered to have it tuned correctly."

Ona glanced at Haurran and saw him pushing his hands into a pair of odd brown gloves. Only the thumb, forefinger and middle finger were covered, leaving the last two revealed. He gently took the Viinsone back from Den, sat down by the fire and placed it on his lap.

Ona and Den watched while he tuned the strings, neither of them sure what to expect.

"Do you really know how to play that thing?" Ona asked.

Haurran nodded, twisting one of the knobs to tighten a string. "_When I was still on the road I would play to pass the time. I've always loved music, since I couldn't sing like my father and mother did."_

Tuning finished, Haurran tested each of the strings to be sure the sound was correct. He looked at his small audience with a rare abashed expression. "_It's been four years, so I don't know how good I'll be."_

"Just play the stupid thing already," Ona snapped.

Haurran hesitated with his hands hovering over the strings. He seemed to be waiting, just as Ona and Den were, but then his fingers fell down onto the strings and his song began.

The song was instantly sweet in Ona's ears, and she was stunned at first to hear such a broad sound from the simple box on Haurran's lap. When his thumbs pounded a cord, a full, swelling sound would ring out in the air. He would sometimes allow the note to peal solidly for a moment, but then he would slide his fingers along the string and blur it up and down like rippling waves. His hands moved quickly, overlapping melodies and weaving the song into life. The tune was light, bouncing like a leaf tumbling in the wind, but also warm as sunshine streaming down through a cloudless sky. If she closed her eyes, Ona could see those very images in her mind, and was touched by a longing for the shining, clean day she imagined.

The song ended after some time, and Haurran sighed. Ona opened her eyes and saw the night somberly waiting for her, scorched only by the flickering flashes of the fire.

"You are really good," Den complimented. "As good as those high nosed concert performers. You hardly messed up at all."

Haurran accepted the praise with a faint smile. He seemed to be aching now that the air was quiet, and his fingers toyed with the strings, as if they had returned to something they hadn't known they'd missed.

"Play something else," Ona told him. He was relieved to oblige, and without word or glance he began another song. The second tune was more complicated, tethering two different songs into one. One melody was high and sweet, while the other was deeper and rich. Ona was reminded of a man and a woman singing together, and she wondered if Haurran's parents had once sung along with him when he played this ballad.

This time when the song ended, Haurran paused only a moment before he began the next one. Ona and Den listened respectfully, hardly distracting themselves long enough to stir the fire. Haurran was still pounding out songs when they both fell asleep.

* * *

The weather hardly changed in the Earth Kingdom, and it could be expected that one hot sunny day would follow another for weeks. It was early in the morning, and as Ona brushed ShinShi's spotted grey coat, she could feel the weight of rain in the air for the first time since she had left home.

Haurran's spirit animal had once made Ona nervous, but over the weeks she had come to like the majestic beast's company. ShinShi was actually fairly playful, which was a characteristic Ona never would have guessed from the fox's demure appearance.

"It going to rain," she said aloud.

Haurran was standing near her, rolling up the sleeping mats to store on the sides of the cart. Den was inside, sewing strips of fabric into what would be their costumes. He said that both outfits were nearly done, but neither Ona nor Haurran had been allowed to see so much as a sleeve in the three weeks he'd been constructing them.

"_I'll need to patch the roof then," _Haurran sighed. "_I've been meaning to take care of those holes, but if its going to rain, I'll have to do it now."_

Apparently some of the cornucopia of items stored in the brightly painted cart were patching tile and glue, which Haurran found easily. Ona could never find things in the dozens of overflowing drawers, be he always seemed to know exactly what provisions they had, and where they were kept.

There were several holes in the roof of the cart, and while Haurran patched them, Ona busied herself by practicing her water-earth bending. She had become proficient with the style, and had mastered most of the basic dances and a few of the intermediate steps. Her confidence was stronger, and she was no longer so uncomfortable when Den chose to watch, but the thought of dancing on stage still made her anxious.

Ona was midway through one of the more difficult dances, struggling to make the earth resemble rolling waves, when she felt a rush of panic overwhelm her. She heard the sound of tiles shattering as they slid off the roof and then a heavy thump as something fell on the ground.

"Ona!" Den cried.

She rushed around to the opposite side of the cart. Haurran was lying on his side with Den crouching by him, both of them surrounded by broken tiles scattered on the grass.

"What happened?" she said.

"He fell off the roof," Den said hastily.

"Why would he fall off? The roof is almost completely flat!"

"I don't know!" Den shouted back at her. " Maybe he passed out or something!"

Ona sought out a word or thought from Haurran, and found him slowly coming back awake. She sensed a muddled pain in him that wasn't related to his fall, a sting that was almost threatening.

Carefully she and Den rolled Haurran onto his back and then helped him sit up against the cart. ShinShi had wandered over and was poking her wet nose at his neck and face. He huffed deeply over and over as if he were breathless, and then opened his eyes.

"What happened?"Ona demanded again.

Haurran stared back at her dizzily. He didn't answer for a long time, but when he did, all he said was, "_The Kingdom. . ."_

"What kingdom?" Ona pressed. She didn't like how pale he was, or the sore hum she could feel coming from his mind.

"_Dai Ten's Kingdom._ _I saw it."_

Den was demanding a translation, so Ona made up something about the heat making Haurran nauseous, completely omitting what had really been said. Den wasn't buying it, but he didn't ask again.

Haurran recovered quickly, sipping water and resting in the shade. While Den was busy Ona went over to him and sat down.

"Did you really see Dai Ten's Kingdom?" she asked.

"_I think so, or that's what it looked like."_

"What about the spirit Elosi? Did you see her too?"

Haurran shook his head. "_That's probably the best thing. I really don't want to know what she looks like, considering what the other spirits say about her."_

Ona frowned, curious. "What do you mean? Have you been talking to the spirits?"

"_Well, I have to when they call. It's like when we were exploring that purple cloud in the field. They'll pull me into the Spirit World, and I really have no control over it."_

"How long has that been going on?"

Haurran shrugged. "_Only once in a while, maybe a few times a week."_

Ona's jaw fell open slightly, and she sighed in disbelief. "Why didn't you say anything? You could be hurt like you were today if these spirits keep yanking you out of your body whenever they feel like having a tea party!"

"_They don't do it for idle chatting,"_ he protested. "_There is something seriously bothering them, but I can hardly ever hear what they say. All I see in the spirit world are clouds anymore."_

"Well, what do we do now?"Ona shook her head. "This Kingdom thing is real, isn't it?"

"_We can't really do anything until I can speak with the spirits," _Haurran said, closing his eyes again._ "I think it would help if I went to a temple or a shrine. A holy place might help me communicate better."_

Nodding, Ona stood up again, though her knees felt a little weak. "We'll have to detour to the next town then. If we're lucky we can reach it before the rain."

She waited for Haurran to confirm the decision, but he didn't act like he'd heard her. He stared at the sky as if he were looking for something, so Ona left him alone and went to put the harness on ShinShi.

* * *

"So we'll actually be stopping in a real town?" Den said. "We can buy some real food at a real store. We could even sit down for dinner!"

"Haurran has to go to the temple," Ona told him. "That's the only reason we're not skipping over this town completely."

Den made a sour face and nudged Ona's side. "Well, we can go to the restaurant while he's having a good ol' time praying. Come on, come on. I'll treat you to a good time."

"Shut up Den, I'm not going to have dinner with you."

From across the cart Haurran was grinning as he guided Shinshi down the road. "_I think you should go, Ona. It'll be nice with just the two of you."_

Ona held her tongue, remembering that Den couldn't hear what Haurran said anyway.

"I'm just kidding, really," said Den carefully. "You two were nice enough to let me ride with you, so I don't want to . . .you know, cause trouble."

"Why would you be causing trouble?" Ona looked at him dubiously.

"Well because of your relationship. I'm obviously a third wheel."

Flushing red, Ona's eyes widened. "You don't think Haurran and I-"

Den frowned. "You're. . .together aren't you?"

"No!" she shouted. "Why on earth would you think that?"

"_I can see where he got the idea from,"_ Haurran offered. "_You do tease me a lot."_

"No way! Only because _you_ tease _me!"_

Den laughed and pointed at Ona's bright red cheeks. "Why are you getting so worked up, if it's not true?"

"Because. . ." she stuttered, lost for words. "Because…"

"I get it, I get it." Den showed her his palms in a conceding gesture. "It's not like you two are traveling alone, spending every night together in the middle of nowhere. Don't know what I was thinking."

"_It is pretty suspicious,"_ Haurran added unhelpfully.

"This whole thing was _YOUR _idea," she retorted. "What does that say about you?"

"_Nothing, if you don't want it to."_

She could feel him smiling, and sense his pleasure at mocking her even though he didn't turn around. Typical boy, avatar or not.

"Well I'm still not going to dinner." Ona said.

"Aw, now you can't just sit in the cart all night," Den pleaded. "We don't even have to go to eat. Just walk around town with me for a little bit. It won't be a huge thing at all."

"No, I-"

"Unless," Den cut her off, grinning, "you would rather be with Haurran in the temple all night. Alone. In the dark."

Ona thought she would scream, but she funneled her frustration into a fist and punched Den hard in his arm. "Fine! I'll go, but only to prove to you that there is no relationship. Haurran and I are just traveling together."

Laughing, but apparently satisfied, Den sat back and said nothing more. Ona couldn't help noticing that he was smiling continually to himself, so for the remaining hours of the journey she stuffed her face in a blanket and tried to sleep.

By dinner time they had finally reached the small town marked on their map, an industrious place called Ruzuma. Though not as massive and dynamic as Topul had been, Ona was surprised by the activity around her as the cart pulled through the gate onto the main thoroughfare. The houses and shops were decorated with colorful banners or flags in green, red and shades of blue. Children and merry makers danced under shining golden lanterns that illuminated the entire street. It seemed the people did not fear a rainstorm interrupting their festivities, because all the attractions appeared to be outdoors.

"Looks like they're having a festival," Ona said.

"Don't know what for," added Den. "When I worked for Jemmine, we would often be asked to make or sell dresses and robes for celebrations in the nearby villages and cities. But I don't remember making anything for Ruzuma this time of year."

Ona shrugged, admiring the colorful decorations. They reminded her of the opening celebration at the World Cup Tournament, when the viewing stands were full of people from every nation, all wearing red, green, blue or white to represent their respective elements. The first time she'd seen the crowd it had seemed like a giant wall splattered with paint. A massive, vivid muddling of the four colors.

"_You know," _Haurran said, turning to glance at Ona, "_performances during festivals always earn the most money. I think we should give it a try."_

"I don't think so," she replied.

"_What? Don't you think you're ready? You don't have to do anything spectacular."_

Ona sighed, heavier thoughts on her mind. "Let's just remember the reason we came here in the first place."

Haurran parked the cart in a stable yard next to an inn, and negotiated what time to meet with Den and Ona later that night. Once the time was agreed on, he left the yard and wandered away up the road to the center of town.

Alone with Den, Ona prepared herself for a painful evening. "Well, where do you want to go?"

"Look," he said, "you don't have to act like this is going to be torture. Why don't you like me?"

She sighed, leading the way down the road. Despite the later hour, there were still a good many people on the street with them. "I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, I treated Haurran the same way for a long time."

"But it's different now."

"Must be," Ona said lightly. "You thought we were together."

Den smiled, then turned the subject. "So, you're pretty awesome with earth bending. Did you ever think about competition?"

"Funny you should say that," she said. "I've been competing for years, ever since I was eight. This year I'll hopefully be going to the World Cup in the Fire Nation. That is, if Haurran can get me there by winter."

"The World Cup, huh?" Den didn't seem as impressed as most people were. "That's a pretty big deal, I hear."

Ona was upset slightly by his tone, as if it were a trivial matter to him. "The World Cup is a _huge_ deal. It's the most important bending competition of the year! Winners become famous, they have their name written in history books as the greatest benders of all time, and some of them even end up teaching the Avatar."

The last statement made her pause for a moment, though Den didn't seem to notice. To finish, she added, "The championship title is an award of incredible honor."

"It's just another label," said Den impassively.

"An important label," Ona retorted. "It's been my. . ." she hesitated, " . . .my dream for years to win that cup. My ranking this year is higher, and I think I have a real chance."

"Well good for you." Den smiled and patted her back. "I see it's important to you."

Perturbed, Ona narrowed her eyes and asked, "Then tell me what's important to you."

Ded paused a while before he answered. "I would have to say that respect of other people is important to me too," he said at last. "But, I just like being around friends and family."

Ona snorted. "You were quick to abandon Jemmine."

"I worked for her a long time, and I will go back." He smiled once more at her. "I just thought you were more interesting, but that doesn't mean that I don't love Jemmine."

"So you say."

"Let me ask you," he said as they wandered under the branches of a decorated tree. "When the World Cup is over, will you continue to travel with Haurran?"

"It's doubtful. I don't think he really cares that much."

Den nodded to himself, only speaking his mind when Ona harassed the words out of him. Reluctantly, he said, "It's just that you say he doesn't care, when you've probably never asked him."

"I don't see how it matters that much."

Once again there was a pause as Den thought carefully over his words.

"Just ask yourself sometime," he said, "if the title really matters as much as you think it does. Or if it's just a word that means nothing at all."

For the remainder of their walk conversation strayed to more worldly concerns. By the time they returned to the cart, Ona had nearly forgotten what Den had warned her about. To her surprise, she realized that they had been gone far longer than they had planned, and had completely missed the meeting time with Haurran.

Guiltily hurrying to the stable yard, Ona prepared an excuse for their tardiness, but she found that Haurran was not there. ShinShi too was undisturbed, sleeping in the grass.

"He's late too," Den noted. "Guess he's having a whole lot of fun at the temple."

They decided to wait a while before going to the inn. Den announced that he wasn't tired, so he spent his time idly pulling open cabinets and drawers to study their contents. He found the golden bracelet that he'd brought for Ona weeks ago, and showed it to her, annoyed that she hadn't worn it. She waved him away, and he dropped the bracelet into his pocket.

An hour later Haurran was still missing, and Ona was admittedly becoming worried. Den agreed to follow her to the temple, only because he wanted to know what could possibly entertain someone for so long in a holy place. It wasn't difficult to find the temple, because it was in the center of town. When they ask one of the priests if he'd seen a Haurran, he directed them to a particular shrine outside the walls. They would have to scale the staircase in the rear of the building, up past trees and bushes to the secluded area atop a hill.

They began the climb unhurriedly, with much complaining and indignation. Ona swore that she would repremeand Haurran for the excessive expense of energy once they found him.

"Gosh," Ona panted, breaking for breath halfway up the stairs. The hill was far taller than it looked. "It's so steep. How many steps are there?"

Den shook his head, wrinkling his nose. "Do you smell something?"

Ona sniffed. "Gross, smells like something is rotting."

Continuing on, Ona noticed that the stench grew stronger the higher they climbed. Only a few minutes later did she look up and realize that she could no longer see the shrine ahead. It was completely lost in a coat of thick, bubbling mist.

Her stomach clenched. Even in the dark she could tell that the fog was tinted purple, of the same sickly color as the mist in the field where Haurran had found Fonta.

What had he said? He'd seen a corrupted spirit there? Ona wavered as a flush of fear ran through her, and she purposely sought out Haurran's presence. Not finding him, she began to climb the stairs with greater urgency, until her feet were leaping up the hill. Den was too out of breath to protest, so he followed as best he could as Ona ran up the staircase, charging directly into the mist.

The consistency of the fog was so thick that Ona could barely see three feet in front of her, and her nostrils were overwhelmed by the stench she remembered from the field. Masking her mouth and nose with her hand, she noticed another scent adding to the repulsive smell around her. It was the musty reek of smoke, mingling with the mist. Somewhere, something in the shrine was on fire.

"Haurran!" Ona coughed. "Haurran, where are you?"

Stumbling forward with her eyes watering, Ona nearly tripped as her shins bumped into Haurran's back. He was sitting on the stone floor, legs tucked under him and his head bowed. He seemed unable to hear her.

Ona knelt down and roughly shook his shoulder, trying to wake him from his meditation. Through the mist she could see a light coming from his face, and saw that he had entered the Avatar state. She shook him again, harder now as the smell of smoke became stronger. It was difficult to tell exactly where the fire was, but Ona could feel heat on her back and see muddy orange light flickering somewhere behind her.

"Haurran! Wake up, the shrine is on fire!" she shouted. "Wake up!"

He didn't stir, and suddenly Ona looked up and was blinded by a surge of fire only a few feet from her side. She yelped, and inhaled too deeply, sucking in smoke and smog that sent her coughing uncontrollably. The fire was spreading through the forest surrounding the shrine, and would quickly block the way down the stairs.

Wheezing, Ona forced herself to stand, gripping Haurran's wrists. She tried to pull him toward the steps, but he was heavy as a boulder, as if something were holding him to the floor.

"Den!" Ona coughed. "Den help me! We have to get out of here!"

To her dismay, there was no answer. Grudgingly she dropped her hold on Haurran's arms, and searched through the smog for Den, thinking that he hadn't heard her. Back at the stairs she found him, collapsed like a corpse on the top step, his eyes open but empty of life.

Ona would have screamed if there had been enough breath in her lungs. Instead she could only push a horse grunt from her burning throat. Den's blank face stared at her, oddly illuminated by the bouncing flames.

Ona stumbled backwards, coughing and gasping through her hands. She had no idea what to do. The fire was spreading, the smoke was growing thicker. Haurran and Den were both lying flat on the floor, and her body was too weak to move either one of them.

"Help!" she called weakly, trying once again to tug Haurran toward the staircase. He moved only an inch before she fell into another fit of coughing. "Help! Help me!"


	13. Herald Of The Spirits

Hi all, sorry sorry sorry for the long wait. I've been focused on wrapping up the other fanfiction I wrote for Gurren Lagann, but now that it's done I can concentrate on this story. I would appreciate some feedback, especially about the last few chapters because I'm afraid I've killed you all with cliches and boredom. I promise to do better from now on! Starting now, with Haurran's trip to the Spirit World! Interesting fact: Menshu and Tianwang are based on actual gods in Chinese culture. Note that I said "based on", a very loosely used term here.

Hope to hear from you, and see ya soon!

*****Update- 4 New Illustrations Posted on Profile**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Herald of Spirits**

As he had done countless times before, Haurran shut his eyes and cast every thought away from his mind, freeing his consciousness from the cast of his body. The path to the Spirit World was familiar, as a young boy he had traveled it nearly every day, but now urgency pulled him faster out of the physical world. He had hardly sat down before swirling mists filled his mind, and he felt lifted off the floor.

The shrine melted from the edges of his vision, and when Haurran opened his eyes he found himself standing knee deep in rust-colored mist, a silent bamboo forest surrounding him. Turning in a circle, he noted how oddly immobile the trees and bushes seemed. It was as if they had frozen in place, holding their breath for something yet unseen.

"There you are, Avatar," said a low voice.

Haurran glanced up. His eyes met those of an enormous, ancient looking cat lounging on a high branch. His dark stripes were thick, and the sound of his purr rumbled in the wood like far away thunder.

Initially Haurran brought his fingers up to sign a response, before he realized that there was no need. In the Spirit World he was not hampered by the limitations of his mortal body, and his voice would ring as truly as any man's. "Menshu," Haurran sighed. "I haven't seen you in a long time."

"So it may seem to you," the cat replied. "There is no time here."

"Of course, how foolish of me to forget."

Menshu nodded and flicked his tail amusedly. "You are correct, however. By the standards of the human world you have been away for some time. You have grown, I see."

"I suppose."

"Hm? Do I hear another note of melancholy, Avatar?"

Haurran crossed his arms and looked away from the spirit. "I apologize. It seems these days I always come here in a dark mood."

Menshu gazed for an extended period at Haurran, examining his posture. "You sense the imbalances in the world, but cannot name them. It is natural to be troubled in troubled times."

Haurran smiled wanly. "I've never wondered why you called are a spirit of wisdom, Men."

The great cat chuckled, and his purr grew louder. "Why have you come here? Were you also summoned?"

Haurran nodded, but said nothing. It was difficult to bring Menshu out of his den and the simple fact that he was here, right where Haurran arrived, was significant. A rustling in the brush caught his attention, and he watched as a group of heavily cloaked figures walked into the cramped clearing. The four men glanced as one at Haurran, and then at Menshu. Stiffly they bowed in unison.

"Greetings Avatar Haurran," said their collective voice. "We have come in response to your summons."

"I didn't summon you, Tianwang," Haurran answered, using the joint name for the heavenly beings. "I was summoned myself, actually. Obviously there is to be a meeting of the spirits here."

"What for?" asked the four spirits.

Menshu rolled his golden eyes. "Well, if you, the four Directional Guardians, were brought down from the heavens we must be here to discuss incidents in the human world don't you think?"

One of the spirits in particular, a sharp eyed man robed in white, grunted disdainfully. "I have seen nothing wrong with the human world. Besides, it is not the responsibility of common spirits to mend worldly ailments."

"You used to be so prudent, Virupaksa. Perhaps you should discuss the _ailments_ of time with Avatar Huarran, as it seems to be affecting you most severely."

The guardians refused to return the comment, instead focusing on settling themselves as far from the cat as possible. The bamboo trees shifted again, and more spirits in the form of various animals appeared.

As the current Avatar, Haurran felt obliged to greet everyone by name even though he had not been the one to invite them. They all seemed to believe that he had, and he grew tired of explaining to the contrary. He was surprised nevertheless by the vast number of beings that arrived. Spirits of fortune, law, trade, and commerce appeared, alongside beasts of travel, war and chaos.

The latter spirit was robed in the form of handsome woman, her pearly skin setting off the ruby color of her lips, but the viciousness of her gaze was not dimmed. She smiled directly at Haurran when he welcomed her.

"Nice to see you, Li-Yu."

"Avatar Haurran, my favorite incarnation." The woman smiled, snake-like, and patted Haurran's cheek. "Certainly the most attractive. It will be sad to watch you age."

"Uh…" he started, but before he could say anything more Li-Yu bent forward and kissed his forehead, then disappeared into the now brimming crowd of spirits.

Menshu stepped down from his branch and strolled to Haurran's side. "You might want to make sure that you weren't cursed just now."

"It worries me that Li-Yu is here," he murmured. "Do you have any idea what this is all about?"

The cat spirit shook his head. "Come sit with me, and we shall wait for the true host to arrive. Surely whoever it is will not be much longer."

Haurran followed Menshu through the shifting mass of animals and deities to a small space in the open part of the clearing. There they both sat down, Haurran with his back braced against the cat spirit's wide flank.

Sometime later the flow of guests finally ended, though by then the clearing was nearly bursting with bodies. Everyone was engaged in their own conversations, though a common thread existed in almost every one. The question of the hour concerned the nature of the gathering, and each spirit relayed the means of their summoning. Some came by message, others by sense, but none could say precisely who it was that called them.

Haurran listened to the mumble of the crowd, glad for Menshu's large body close to him. He hoped that the real host would come soon, because many of the congregation were tossing unhappy looks his way. If the spirits began to think that they had been called on needlessly, it was not hard to imagine their heated retaliation.

At last the trees parted once more, and Haurran looked toward the sound as a small, human figure poked his head out of the bamboo. To his surprise, he did not recognize the newcomer. He was clearly only a boy, and an airbender by the arrow tattooed on his bald head. His wide mouth dropped open as he stared at the copious gathered spirits.

"Whoa! Is this some kind of party?"

The spirits gazed at the boy with respective disgust, humor and pity. Haurran wasn't sure what to feel, or do, and decided to wait for more to happen.

"Who are _you_?" demanded a bird shaped spirit.

"Shame on you, Min," scolded Li-Yu in a light voice. "All spirits should recognize an incarnation of the Avatar when they see one."

"Of course I know he's the Avatar," defended the bird. "What I want to know is which one he is. And why do we need more than one here?"

"The child is an airbender, obviously," Menshu offered. "Though his robes are certainly post Fire Lord invasion. Even I do not remember every Avatar, they are reincarnated far too often in my opinion. What is your name, boy?"

For a moment the boy seemed distracted, staring at the hundred faces gathered around him. He shook his head as if to fling off water from his skull, and laughed.

"My name's Aang. I'm the Avatar after Roku."

Haurran glanced back and forth at the other spirits, and saw nods of recognition all around him. He turned to Menshu.

"I've never heard of either of them," he whispered.

"Understandable," the cat purred calmly. "Both Aang and Roku are incarnations that come many centuries after you. Perhaps you should go and introduce yourself, before Li-Yu gets ahold of the boy."

Standing up, Haurran hesitated to approach the stranger. But then he hurried forward when he saw Li-Yu also moving through the crowd, and managed to reach the airbender just before the spirit.

"Hello," Haurran burst, and then hastily gave his name. He took special care to stand directly between Li-Yu and the young Avatar, making a sort of shield with his body.

"Nice to meet you," Aang said cheerfully. "You know I've never met an incarnation as young as me before. Usually they're old, like Roku."

"Really?" Haurran said absently, guiding the young man back toward Menshu. "I've never met one of my _future_ incarnations before. Honestly I didn't know it was possible."

Aang appeared to think for a moment, and then he said, "Well I don't know. Maybe it's because _you're_ not meeting me, but _I'm_ meeting you."

"That could be it. By the way, were you the one who summoned all of these spirits here?"

Aang frowned. "No, I just got here myself. The Guardian told me that I needed to go to the spirit world and wait for him, because we were going to talk about the sky going dark."

Haurran blinked in surprise. "Who is The Guardian?"

"Don't know," Aang shrugged. "That's just what he calls himself. Actually I'm not even sure he's a 'he.'"

"So, he…uh, or she, is the one who summoned all the spirits?"

"I guess so." The smaller Avatar glanced sideways at Haurran with his round eyes. "I wonder why you were invited."

Haurran bit his tongue, and told himself that Aang hadn't meant his comment as an insult. Haurran thought that he may have been spending too much time around spiteful spirits.

Even before they sat down again Aang had launched into a long-winded tale of his accomplishments as the Avatar. With skillfully spoken prompts, Menshu negotiated the excitable boy away from ratings about someone named Fire Lord Ozai, to the interesting tidbit he had mentioned before.

"Yeah, I was kind of hoping that the peaceful times would last longer than a year," Aang said when Menshu asked about his most recent adventures. "But, just a few days ago the sky started be dark even during the day. Not black, but dim. The Guardian spirit showed up in my room…" he chuckled nervously and his face reddened. "I was actually taking a bath…but he didn't seem to notice."

"What did he tell you?" Haurran pressed.

"He said a lot of things. Basically all I got from it was that some kind of hole between the Spirit World and our world was forming. He told me to go to these places, and I saw weird things going on that he said were caused by the hole."

Haurran licked his lips, trying to ignore the spirits leaning over to hear their conversation. "What sort of weird things?"

"Well…" Aang nervously looked at Menshu, intimidated by the cat's penetrating gaze. "There were people, ordinary people, who could bend more than one element. I saw waterbenders shooting fire, and earthbenders flying around in the sky." A sad look crossed his face. "Sometimes their bending would be so strong it would hurt them. Even experienced benders couldn't control their element."

"Is that all?"

"No," Aang shook his head, now looking even more worried. "The Guardian introduced me to people in town. I thought they were just normal, until I realized that I could hear them speaking from miles away, or they could see me with their eyes closed even when I was outside." He shook his head uneasily. "The weirdest was when they could hear my thoughts and feel my emotions. The Guardian never explained exactly what was going on."

Menshu and Haurran exchanged looks over Aang's head.

"Do you know anything about this?" the spirit asked.

Haurran began to answer, but at that moment all the other conversations between the many spirits stopped and absolute silence fell over the clearing. He followed their eyes and saw what seemed to be a blue cloud seeping through the bamboo stalks. As he watched the cloud rolled and twisted, until it took on a familiar shape.

"That's The Guardian," Aang whispered.

Haurran kept his mouth tightly shut and simply watched the cloud. Before his eyes it transformed into a human form, though it was still billowing and translucent. It was difficult to distinguish the details, but the ghost seemed to be wearing traditional robes. With misty eyes The Guardian ran its gaze over the crowd, and then with a foggy flourish it bowed.

"Great spirits," he said. "Avatar Haurran, Avatar Aang, I'm glad to see you have all arrived."

Haurran understood now what Aang had meant about the spirit's gender. There was nothing in its misty appearance or its airy voice to discriminate male from female, or even age from youth. Only a blurry face could be made out through all the vapors, and to Haurran it was as careworn and weathered as an old man's, but with the wide eyes of a child.

"Guardian," said Min the bird spirit, "why have you called us all here?"

The Guardian did not answer directly. "I was hoping that you all might have talked it out together. Surely if you asked Tianwang, our four beloved Kings, they could tell you what they have seen in their diligent watching of the earth."

The four colorfully robbed men frowned at the misty Guardian together. Virupacksa, the King dressed in white, was the only one to speak. "As I have told Menshu already, I have seen nothing wrong with the world in our time."

"Of course, I understand your confusion," the Guardian said placidly. "You are the King of the west, Virupaksa, he who sees all. And you, Kubrea, King of the north, he who hears all, have much to consider in the world. However, perhaps you need to turn your eyes and ears away from the monarchs. Their gossip is often distracting."

The second King to be addressed, Kubrea, lifted an arm from his yellow robe and pointed at the crowd of spirits. "Do not accuse us, who live in human time. If you wish to know of the human world, why not ask one of these others who are blessed to live in a world away from time's limitations?"

"Very well," The Guardian seemed to sigh unhappily, "Concerning the time of Avatar Haurran and Avatar Aang, is anyone aware of a problem?"

"There is a hole, great Guardian, forming between the Spirit World and that of the mortals," answered Li-Yu with a serpentine smile of her red lips. Some of the other spirits glared at her for repeating what Aang had said.

"Well I thought that was obvious," The Guardain replied. "Surely, you spirits have felt this before? Don't you recognize what is happening?"

Li-Yu's smile wavered, her pride ruffled. "How can you ask a spirit to _remember?_ Perhaps Koh, with his disgusting collection of faces, could tell you. Or the timekeepers…" her voice curled with amusement at the last word.

A tall spirit shot her a malicious glance. "We have known all along that you were the one to twist our clocks backwards and fill our scribe's pages with your foolish notes, Li-Yu! Obviously you cannot _remember_, because you have done the same thing three times before!"

Li-Yu chuckled, even as another spirit pushed forward and demanded, "Why allow the spirit of chaos here, Guardian?"

"You say that as if Li-Yu cares what you allow her to do and not to do," Menshu said calmly, but in a loud voice that sounded over the commotion in the crowd. Once again, everyone fell silent. "Now, I believe that Avatar Haurran has the answer that the Guardain seeks."

Haurran told himself not to glance around, but stared directly at The Guardian when he answered. "This hole you're talking about, it's caused by Dai Ten's Kingdom drawing closer to our… I mean, the human world, right?"

The Guardian nodded. At that one hundred conversations erupted back to life in the clearing.

"Ah! Elosi, my dear cousin," Li-Yu laughed. "I had forgotten about her. How good to see that she is returning again!"

"It isn't a good thing at all," protested Haurran. "Her approach throws the human world into…"

"Chaos?" The woman laughed all the louder.

Flushing, Haurran turned his back on her. "Guardian, did you bring Aang here because Dai Ten's Kingdom also effects his time?"

"Quite seriously, in fact," answered The Guardian. "Elosi, as we are all aware, is locked inside her self-made prison. She drives her castle nearer to the human world in search of companionship, but in so doing she creates a rift between two worlds that, while harmonious, must remain separate."

"Elosi is spiteful and childish," snapped Min with a click of his long beak. "She, like Li-Yu, has caused trouble before. Why should we all gather here if the problem will resolve itself in time?"

"Odd that you should speak of time, dear spirit," Menshu murmured to the large bird. "Do you doubt our chosen Guardian's wisdom in calling us here?"

"The problem," said The Guardian loudly, "actually has a great deal to do with time. That is the reason that I brought two incarnations of the Avatar to our gathering."

With a serious gaze The Guardian looked from one Avatar to the other. "Elosi's prison has only approached the human world four times since its creation. The first and second caused trouble in the world, but passed without any grave calamity. The third appearance is in Haurran's time. She has been drawing ever closer for nearly two decades, and the signs of her approach are becoming obvious."

Hearing this, Virupaksa scowled. He apparently believed otherwise, but kept his words to himself.

The Guardian went on. "Elosi's final appearance occurs in Avatar Aang's time, though her approach is much quicker, and the effects much more disastrous."

"What does that mean?" Aang said. "Are you talking about earthquakes and tidal waves? Stuff like that?"

"Yes, among other things. Specifically, a split between earth and the Spirit World so wide that all of nature is thrown off its course. Spirits wander freely in the human world, and humans enter the Spirit World against their will, never to return. Bending of the four elements becomes uncontrollably powerful, until the flick of a wrist can burn entire forests, chase away a mountain, or flood a nation in water."

Aang's face went white and his eyes widened. "But, why? What can I do?"

"There is little _you_ can do, Avatar Aang," The Guardian said, and the airbender's expression turned distressed. "But, you can put your trust in Avatar Haurran."

Haurran had known this was coming for several minutes now. He felt that he already understood what The Guardian was about to ask of him, though inwardly he was unsure if he knew any way to complete the task.

"Avatar," said The Guardian, "Elosi approaches your home in her hunt for an everlasting companion. You are the only incarnation, past, present or future, who can approach her throne. You must turn her away, and ensure that she never returns. For when Dai Ten's Kingdom approaches earth again centuries from now, it will cause the absolute destruction of both the Spirit World, and the world of man."


	14. Out Of Control

**Okay, so we'll keep chugging along here. No new illustrations to post, but maybe next time. Enjoy, and I'll see ya soon!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**-Out of Control-**

The Guardian's grave announcement brought silence to the gathered spirits, and even the misty forest became somehow more still, more stagnant. Haurran glanced at the other Avatar crouched by his side. A look of amused bewilderment built on Aang's face, stretching his rounded features oddly, and to Haurran it seemed he had not understood what The Guardian said. Maybe - judging by the slight smile on his lips - he believed this prophecy of doom was only a joke.

Mercifully, Menshu was the first to speak. "I believe there remains some confusion, and many questions arise. For instance, why is Haurran the only incarnation able to travel to Dai Ten's kingdom? Is there not a gate that stands perpetually between the human world and the palace? Many former incarnations have found it."

The Guardian nodded and waved a dismissive hand. "Yes, yes. Any Avatar may enter through the gate, but _only_ and Avatar can open it. There is a difference, you see, between a spiritual being approaching a spiritual place, and a spirit approaching the mortal world."

"But why does it have to be me specifically who stops Elosi?" Haurran asked. "Wouldn't any Avatar do just as well?" _Or better? _he added silently.

"I'm afraid not. Remember that Elosi has approached earth in the past without causing harm. In fact, she does not wish to wreck the human world at all." The Guardian raised a billowing cloud hand to its face and tapped the side of its nose. "There is something specific that occurs upon her third visit that brings about her later retribution. Unfortunately it remains to be seen exactly what that event is."

Haurran frowned, wondering why he had not realized this before. Of course, it was obvious. The only reason a particular Avatar was required would be for an equally particular event. Looking shamefully at Menshu, he could tell that the great cat had reached this conclusion and needn't have asked The Guardian about it. Perhaps he did so to protect Haurran from embarrassment. Unhappily he lowered his head and decided not to say anything else for a while.

"Then the next question that faces us," said one of the four guardian spirits, "is how the Avatar will go about trapping Elosi."

"We said nothing about trapping her," retorted Li-Yu. "She is already _trapped_ well enough."

"Trap, destroy, trick. The path is inconsequential. We only must be sure that she can never return to the human world."

The chaos spirit made a sour face at the bird. "The solution is obvious. Elosi is known to grant wishes to those who yield proper offerings, and all our little Avatar would need to do is wish her away."

Menshu growled low and deep in his large chest, turning barbed eyes on the comely woman. "Your beloved cousin is the most devious spirit of trade to exist in our world. No offerings would compare to your request, and Haurran would be forced to make up the difference with his own life. How dare you suggest he submit himself willingly to her duplicity."

"But he would rescue the future world from Elosi's wrath." Li-Yu shrugged. "His sacrifice would benefit the greater good, would it not?"

"What you speak of is not a sacrifice, but unnecessary suffering." Menshu's yellow eyes stared angrily at Li-Yu, but the other spirit did not look away. "Sacrifice is noble only when there is no other avenue. Otherwise it is foolishness."

Many other beings shouted out their opinions, but all were lost in the unified racket. Silenced, but not defeated, Li-Yu ducked her head and turned away with lips pressed together. Haurran risked a glance up then, and caught sight of The Guardian watching the crowd stoically, its misty features shaped into a look of separation Haurran watched its vaporous expression, and wondered if it were lost in memories, should timeless beings possess such mortal thoughts.

Briefly The Guardian's child-like eyes skipped to meet Haurran's, and it seemed that something sorrowful, contrite, slid unspoken between them. For a heartbeat the spirit's gaze lingered on him, and like a figure striding from the fog, its body appeared to reform into a much more human shape. Haurran could not focus his eyes on the details, but for a moment The Guardian's true form was revealed, and it was strangely familiar.

But then their gazes broke apart as more voices rose in shouts throughout the crowd. The Guardian regained its vague shape as the mist swirled around it, but not before the impression of its actual body stuck itself in Haurran's mind.

"If not a wish, then what could permanently send Elosi away?" shouted someone from the crowd.

Another voice instantly rose up. "Who says he would be killed in exchange? She could ask Haurran to live with her forever!"

"Fool! If the boy lives eternally he could never reincarnate; the existence of the Avatar would end completely!"

"Enough," said The Guardian sternly. "Enough! Before we can decide on a solution every detail of the situation needs to be discovered. If Haurran can resolve the problem that brings Elosi to earth a fourth time without a wish, he saves himself considerable trouble. But-" the Guardian made a lame effort to look at Haurran, and he was sharply reminded of the way Ona struggled to meet his eyes while she apologized for her sharp tongue. "But, I would advise him not to rule the wish out, should all other avenues be blocked."

The Guardian finished with a pointed, pleading look at Menshu, but the large cat ignored it.

"Are you saying that you don't really know what Elosi's problem is?" said Aang, speaking up after his long – stunned- pause. He clarified when the other spirits turned to look down at him, "I mean, you said there was a specific event, but you haven't said exactly what it is."

"Ah, of course," The Guardian appeared to shrug. "Unfortunately, Elosi's possession of Dai Ten's Kingdom is such that her actions are invisible through the spirit world. She wanted to keep the temples for herself, so naturally she discovered a way to keep all others out."

"But the gate-"

"The gate was created by Dai Ten following Elosi's treachery. He designed it so that only the Avatar may open it."

Haurran had thought about the gate, wondering at the apparent secret of its lock ever since Loe had first recounted the legend of Dia Ten to him in the small village. His stomach twisted, and he waited anxiously until there was a break in the arguing. "Guardian," he ventured, and was forced to repeat himself several times when his request was unheard. "Guardian, I-"

"Hold on," burst Aang noisily. He was loud enough to be heard again, even though there were still many raucous conversations going on around them. "Hold on, go back to the gate thing. Why can only the Avatar enter through? Does he have to use all four elements to open it?"

"No, no" The Guardian replied easily. Haurran relaxed, his worst fear resolved. The only elements he could control with any authority were earth and fire, and even those lacked a certain flare. If he had been required to bend water, or worst of all air, he was sure that it would be impossible to save Aang's future from peril.

"Element bending holds no sway in the Spirit World," The Guardian went on. "Dai Ten realized that, so the key to unlocking the gate lies in the other purely unique quality of the Avatar: the ability to commune with the Spirit World."

Haurran could feel the tension slacking throughout his body. If there was one aspect of his life as Avatar he felt accomplished in, it would be his knowledge of the Spirit World and nearly all of its inhabitants. Now he could be relieved, knowing that at least the gate to Dai Ten's kingdom would not be an obstacle.

"So, how does the gate open?" Haurran asked, now more self-assured.

"The process is ingeniously simple," The Guardain said. "There are specific spirits whose sole purpose lies in harmonizing nature in the human world with the events of the spirit world, and they do so in song."

"The Zheng, you mean?"

"Uh- yes, actually." The Guardian half smiled, surprised that Haurran knew the name of the melodious spirits.

But Haurran was far away in his mind, envisioning the large glassy lake where the Zheng resided. The grassy slope leading to the water had been a favorite place to visit when he was younger, because the unending, otherworldly song that echoed from the lake would block Doric's enraged shouting. Haurran was possessed with a sudden longing for the place, a constricting desire to once again sit by the water and listen. The Zheng were not one spirit, nor even a dozen, but hundreds to thousands in number. Every one of them had been overjoyed when Haurran visited them.

He could almost guess what The Guardian would say next. The song of the Zheng could be heard in the human world, by human ears, though only the Avatar could find meaning in the sound. For the Zheng's mortal form were frogs (not birds as many would assume). Tiny, emerald frogs that hopped out of the lake at night, gathered in enormous groups, and warbled together in the murky darkness. At times their combined voices could be thunderous, like a blanket of noise. Haurran laughed quietly to think of the small spirits, chirping with all their strength, pouring their joy into the song.

"The gate to Dai Ten's Kingdom," Haurran murmured, "is close to a lake, isn't it?"

Once again The Guardian smiled, though with less surprise than before. "Yes, so it is." A frown formed on its cloudy face. "Do you, perhaps, know the secret to unlocking the gate?"

"No, I just know about the Zheng."

The Guardian nodded, eyeing Haurran again with that same knowing, poignant look. Haurran meant to meet it's gaze in the hopes that he would discover the reason for The Guardian's sentiment, but then Aang nudged him and he was distracted.

"What are the Zheng?" he asked.

"They are a collection of small spirits," he answered softly. "They gather at a lake in the Spirit World, and sing unending hymns about the glories of nature. Their song is part of the reason why people can appreciate beauty in the human world."

Menshu nodded, pleased with the explanation. He continued to describe the Zheng to Aang, but Haurran only gave them half an ear. He was calculating what the spirit song would have to do with the gate, and somehow dread began to fill his veins again.

"As you are all aware," The Guardian went on, "A large number of the Zheng have chosen to inhabit the mortal world. Many of them will surround the lake where Dai Ten placed the gate once dusk falls, and they will begin their song. Though any mortal may hear them, Dai Ten enchanted the gate so that it will unlock when the true song is repeated before the threshold."

Haurran felt dismay hit him like a physical blow. Even bending the four elements would have been more plausible than this. To be asked to speak…his heart sank as if a weight had been strapped to it. Surely now all was lost.

"Haurran?" Aang turned to him. "What's the matter?"

For a moment Haurran feared that he had become mute once more, and all he could do was flap his tongue uselessly. "I…" he finally croaked, "I…I can't open the gate. If I have to talk, it can't…be done."

The Guardian glanced at him sympathetically. "That is another problem. The fact that you are mute in the physical world is an obstacle, but if you have someone to speak for you, the gate should still open."

"I don't understand," Haurran said. "I thought only the Avatar could open and pass through the gate."

"Not necessarily. The Avatar is the only person, aside from a spirit, who could correctly interoperate the Zheng's song and relate the lyrics. If Haurran communicates the words and the melody, anyone could sing the tune required to unlock the gate."

"Words are one thing," the bird, Men said. "Words can be written, signaled and mouthed. But a melody is another problem entirely."

For a moment the problem hung over the congregation, and it weighed on Haurran heaviest of all. He became twisted with hatred for himself, for his imperfection and how it was determined to wedge into every aspect of his life. Quickly he ripped himself from his shell of pity. He needed to focus on finding a way to open the gate.

"I believe that Haurran is in possession of a particular skill," Menshu offered. "He belonged to a family of traveling performers before he began his training as Avatar. Perhaps you learned to play an instrument?"

Haurran's heart skipped. Maybe there was a way! "Yes, yes, I've learned to play the Vinnsone! I could teach the song to someone else if I learned to perform it!"

The Guardian smiled gravely, not reflecting quite as much of Haurran's excitement. "Bear in mind that the song of the Zheng is incredibly complex. It may be difficult to communicate from your mind to your fingers to your instrument to the mind of your vocalist and then have them produce the exact tune."

Haurran thought of Ona, knowing that he could save time by simply recounting the song mentally to her. But he wasn't certain that she could handle its intricacy, seeing as she had never performed so much as a lullaby as far as he knew. He could always find a professionally trained vocalist, and surely anyone would jump at the chance to aid the Avatar.

But that would mean confronting another of his darker inhibitions. He would have to reveal to someone new that their Avatar was an inept bender, misplaced circus musician and a mute. His heart dropped so fast he thought it would fall right through the ground. Why couldn't even this be simple?

"In any case," The Guardian said to reunite the chattering spirit's attention, "the true reason all of you have been called here is so that you are aware of the peril our world is in. It should be the duty of every spirit gathered here to offer their blessings on Haurran as he prepares for this endeavor. As for you Li-Yu, it is my hope that you understand the risk Elosi poses to your existence. You would do well to refrain from pulling strings associated with this Avatar."

"Or any Avatar," Aang said, winking at Haurran.

"So, it is agreed then that Avatar Haurran will strive to find a way to dispose of Elosi?" Li-Yu grumbled, looking a great deal less attractive.

"If he agrees to take up this quest," The Guardian answered. "Of course what he is fighting to prevent occurs generations after his death. It would be understandable if his motivation is lacking."

"Of course I'm going to do it!" Haurran said, louder than he meant to. The moment Aang had glanced at him doubtfully his mind had filled with urgency. How could they doubt him? "I'll make sure she never returns, make the wish if I have to. I'll find a way."

He turned half around and met the eyes of the noble spirits standing over him. He recognized every face, shared memories with Menshu, the four kings, Men, Li-Yu, the Zheng, all of the many beings. They had told him their stories, they had given solace, given wisdom and encouragement. They listened when he worried that his parents had forgotten him, or when he feared that the world would never accept him, a broken, voiceless, circus mutt as their Avatar. It wasn't only the human world he was "fighting" for, but also for the only family he could recognize anymore.

"I'll find a way," Haurran repeated firmly. Then he let his voice soften. "Though, I'd be glad for any help you could give me."

"You have my pledge," said a large bear spirit. "My eye will forever watch your purse, to be sure that it never grows thin."

"And I," intoned another, "will send the hard weather miles from your back, so that it may drown your enemies but never touch you."

Still another raised their voice proudly, "and I shall make you invisible to those who would steal from you!"

"Your talent will flourish by my power!"

"You will find wise and helpful friends on every road, in every city!"

"Your food stores will multiply, and always taste pleasurable in your mouth!"

Haurran could barely speak long enough to give his thanks, for every time he opened his mouth another spirit would call out the blessing they planned to bestow on him. It seemed that some of the more competitive beings were shouting out their wondrous offers like excited bidders at an auction. Back and forth they went, until the crowd was little more than a bustling, bubbling roar of sound. Haurran knew his situation was being made into a game, but he could hardly complain when he was being promised castles and royal escorts.

It took a very long time to quiet everyone down again, and by then the spirits had begun to chatter about other topics. The Guardian made sure that various other loose ends were discussed, but the meeting continued on and on as several completely unrelated complaints were brought up. Haurran could not listen to idle words, not when excitement rushed through his body like a churning river. He wanted to return to his human form that instant, to run and tell Ona and Den all that had he had learned. He could not imagine them expressing anything less than eager impatience when they learned where their adventure was headed.

Eventually the spirits began to depart, and Aang stood with Haurran to give everyone a polite farewell.

"I had no idea there were so many different spirits," Aang murmured. The line dissolved slowly, and sometime later only a few stragglers remained in the clearing.

"Yes, there are spirits to watch over everything," said Haurran. "Of course, there are many who do not involve themselves with the human world at all. They're among the oldest, and the most powerful. I've never heard of anyone meeting with them though."

Aang seemed only marginally interested. "Do you think those guys are going to be leaving soon? I've got to get back to my body or else I'll miss dinner."

Haurran scanned the remaining spirits, counting only five standing in the clearing. Three spirits were huddled in a small group, talking in low voices. Menshu had stalked back to his seat in the tree and was apparently busily cleaning his fur. The last was Li-Yu, standing off by herself, her fan fluttering continuously and her eyes occasionally sending Haurran suggestive glances.

Haurran sighed. "No. She's not leaving until I talk to her, and neither is Menshu. If you want to go home, Aang, I'm sure no one will mind." He smiled gratefully. "Thanks for hanging around to help though."

"No problem, you're the one doing a huge favor for me."

"Ah, I suppose so."

"Don't hurt yourself trying to stop Elosi, alright?" Aang said sincerely. "And don't make that wish unless you absolutely have to."

"Of course," Haurran assured him. "It's not like the fate of the world hangs on my success."

"Trust me, I've been there before. The only thing you can really do is keep moving forward." He shrugged. "Most of the time everything is out of your control."

Haurran shut his eyes, thinking how much he didn't like being out of control. "How do you know when you're ready?"

"Who said you need to be ready?" Aang grinned.

Haurran stared at him, not sure if those words were meant as a joke.

Aang laughed, turned and waved before he walked back into the forest. Haurran hesitated, watching the trees the other Avatar had disappeared into, wondering absently at how the branches scarcely twitched when he walked through them. At last he realized that he could not stall any longer, and turned to decide which spirit he should talk to first. In the end he resolved to go to Menshu.

The large cat watched Haurran quite unabashedly as he approached, something like a smile on his golden face.

"Is something wrong?" Menshu asked.

"No, except that you are obviously waiting for me to come speak with you."

The cat purred noisily. "How observant. Yes there was something I thought needed bringing up."

"What would that be?"

For a moment Menshu sat quietly, purposefully refusing to speak as if he expected Haurran to be suddenly enlightened and answer himself. Then the spirit began to purr louder, and inclined his head slightly. "Have you decided what to do about the effects of Dai Ten's Kingdom on the people of your world?"

Haurran frowned, confused. "What do you mean? I'm going to send Elosi away, isn't that enough?"

"It may be, depending on how long it takes you to complete your task."

Instead of speaking his question directly, Haurran settled for frowning at Menshu pointedly.

"Of course you are aware that everyone in your world will be affected, especially in the area of bending." Menshu spread one enormous paw, his long claws curling out of his fur. "People will be searching for an explanation from their Avatar, many will be fearful, and many will try to usurp your position because of their increased spiritual abilities. It is your responsibility to explain to some extent, that the world is out of balance and that bending elements may prove disastrous."

"Do you think people would really listen to me?"

"That is not as important. You have yet to see exactly how much trouble Elosi causes. You will save yourself considerable blame if you send a warning beforehand." He lifted his yellow eyes in an oddly bored expression. "If you say nothing at all, people of all four nations will certainly begin to doubt you."

Haurran inwardly retaliated against this suggestion. The last thing he wanted to do was reveal himself as Avatar in front of the world, even to give people information about their own safety. Even if he found a way to spread the word, he couldn't see himself following through if no one would believe him.

Menshu's perceptive gaze could almost read Haurran's thoughts. "The decision is yours. You do have many more problems to confront, but I would keep the suggestion in mind."

"What am I supposed to do?' Haurran demanded. "Just pass out a flyer telling people not to do bending anymore?"

"My knowledge of your world is limited in the area of politics. Surely you will recognize the perfect opportunity when it comes to you."

Disappointed and mildly put off by the conversation, Haurran nodded and said nothing more. He was angry to find one more seemingly impossible task thrust on him, along with the expectation that he would fulfill it. Sometimes he was sure that he would trade anything not to be the Avatar.

Harruan tried not to sound annoyed as he said goodbye to Menshu. The cat could be a wise and reassuring creature, but at times his relaxed mentality was wearisome. Haurran hated to think that the cat did not truly care about anything besides cleaning his coat, but the spirit's sleepy tone did nothing to encourage him.

"Goodbye Menshu," Haurran said. "It seems that I need to speak with Li-Yu now. I promise to visit more often in the future."

"See that you do," yawned Menshu, and then he closed his eyes and appeared to sleep.

Fighting back a grim sigh, Haurran next walked toward the opposite side of the clearing where the woman stood. With irritation he saw Li-Yu notice him, and then turn away to pretend that she was studying a bamboo stalk. When he stopped in front of her she feigned surprise and giggled, a sound like a cracked bell jingling.

"Avatar Haurran, what an honor," Li-Yu chimed.

"Was there something you needed to talk to me about?"

His bluntness appeared to first startle, and then amuse her. Her toothy smile glittered at him and again she laughed.

"Dear boy, can you fault me for wanting time with you? It's been so long since your last visit." She sighed. "Ah, you and I were so close when you were younger. Now you are too old and too wise for me."

Haurran remembered with slight satisfaction how he had crept through the mist with Li-Yu as a young boy, falling gleefully in line with all of her devious schemes. Although back then her form had been a much younger girl, the flash of cunning in her eyes was just as sharp then as ever.

"Everyone tells me that I've been away for a while," Haurran said. "But I thought you spirits didn't have any sense of time."

"Hm, when you miss someone dear, even a timeless reality will drag on and on." Li-Yu pursed her ruby lips. "But, as far as I can see you've only changed in body. Your personality is still intact."

"That's good to know," he murmured. Quietly he was wondering what on earth Li-Yu actually wanted from him. Knowing her, there would be no way to tell until long after she had already gotten what she wanted. For now he decided to just play along.

"You know," Li-Yu went on, "you have always been my favorite Avatar."

"But there are so many besides me, and plenty who are a lot more sneaky," he said and smiled politely. "Why aren't any of them your favorite?"

There, a modestly probing question, but not too obvious. Li-Yu probably saw right through him, but he still hoped her next answer would shed some light on her true goal.

"Dear, dear, you are so docile," she said. "But you realize that about yourself, right? What is truly interesting is your, as they say, darker side. There is quite a mighty temper inside you."

"Yes, it's something I've been trying to calm actually." He blinked and realized that he was staring at his shoes, and quickly raised his head. "It really isn't healthy for anyone to hold grudges like I do."

Li-Yu shrugged. "I wouldn't know. You don't anger as easily as you used to, but you can be an absolute demon when you feel abused. Honestly I wonder how you've managed to keep our head around that whiny girl you're traveling with."

Haurran easily kept his face placid, but inside he felt a strong jolt of surprise. None of the other spirits had so much as mentioned Ona, and he had thought that no one knew who she was. Could this be what Li-Yu was really interested in? He couldn't think of any reason why she would care about Ona, but then he concluded that he essentially knew very little about his friend.

"Ona isn't as bad as she used to be," he said defensively. "I think when we started out she was more afraid than she wanted me to know."

"Well, she could have chosen a better way to cover it up, couldn't she? That kind of personality is no good for you."

He swallowed, forcing himself to be impartial. He wasn't ready to jump to Ona's defense, because there was a bit of truth in what Li-Yu said. He was not happy with the spirit either, but it would do no good to lash out or explode with emotion. Somehow Haurran could tell that Li-Yu was waiting for him to do just that.

She was testing him, but he could not say for certain what for.

"Women," Haurran sighed, "they're so difficult for me to understand. I've come to believe that complication is their natural state of mind."

It wasn't what Li-Yu wanted to hear, he could see the way she cut her eyes at him, and her lips were tight when she smiled. He could not remember ever seeing such a poisonous look on her face before, but it instantly disappeared when she spoke.

"You'll have to learn, if you're going to visit Elosi. My cousin is even more demanding than I am. You'll have to think carefully about what you bring her as offerings."

"I meant to ask you about that. Are the offerings specific items?"

"No, no, perhaps _gifts_ is a better word." Li-Yu took on a more practical look. For now, their game was paused. "She has preferences, and those can be easily researched even in the human world. Dai Ten himself paid her with gold when he called her from the spirit world."

Haurran nodded absently. "Gold? As in riches, you mean? Is Elosi fond of treasure?"

"She's a woman, Haurran. You cannot visit her and ask for her time without bringing her compensation, or symbols of your goodwill." She grinned. "You already know, I'm sure, what sorts of things women like to have as gifts. The more she approves of your offerings, the less severe her demands for your wish will be."

"What do you recommend," he said, and quickly added, "as her cousin?"

"Hm, perhaps I'll leave you to decide. I'll be interested to see what you come up with."

And just like that, he knew the game was over. There was no chance that he had won, but the damage could only be measured much later. Li-Yu continued to smile at him, and offered to escort him through the forest. He would need to find a gate in order to return to his body, now that he was this deep in the spirit world. Haurran really had no choice but to accept; he didn't know this forest and was uninterested in wandering around alone until he found a way out.

Li-Yu took his arm and they started to walk, talking about the past and other idle topics. It seemed the hunt for information had really ended; though Haurran stayed alert for any more analytical questions.

The walk seemed to take far longer than it should have, but Haurran expected nothing less of Li-Yu. He was relieved when he laid eyes on the simple wooden gate that signaled passage back to the human world, but at the same time he was surprised that he hadn't been led on a much more outrageous hike.

"I suppose I'll see you again soon," Haurran said, edging toward the gate.

Li-Yu held on his arm a few moments longer. "Of course. Feel free to call on me if you are ever in need of…assistance."

She dropped her grip, and he took that to mean that the goodbyes had been spent and he was free to go. He turned to the gate and took three steps toward it when she spoke again. The impossible scope of mischief saturating her words stopped him like hitting a wall.

"Be sure to give Elosi my best," Li-Yu said. Haurran twisted around to look at her, to derive some understanding from her expression, but she had already disappeared. Only the sinking feeling her tone left in his stomach remained to plague him.

Sighing to clear his head, Haurran faced the gate once more. Then he gasped and felt his body turn to ice when he found himself staring directly into a pair of haunted, misty eyes.

The Guardian floated, cloudlike and ghostly, less than a hand-length away from his face. It wore an expression of deep solemnity, and its voice was tinged with urgency when it spoke.

"Do not enter this gate," it said.

Haurran composed himself and choked out one word. "What?"

"Li-Yu is trying to trick you. You were foolish to follow her."

"What do you mean? Where does this gate lead?"

The Guardian nervously glanced beyond Haurran's shoulder, the mist surrounding its body billowing thicker than ever. "Follow me, you need to return to your body quickly."

With that The Guardian swooped forward, leaving Haurran standing behind, speechless and immovable. Confused, he looked back at the mysterious gate, wondering if he should just ignore The Guardian's impolite warning and pass through. The cloudlike spirit was already out of sight, probably sailing over swamps far away by now.

"You must come _now_," The Guardain suddenly demanded with iron authority. Haurran jumped when he saw the powdery face burst from nowhere, seemingly exploding from out of the air. What little of its body that could be made out suggested heights of severity that Haurran rarely saw.

When the spirit said nothing else, Haurran felt anger sparked in his mind. He at least deserved an explanation.

"Why should I follow you?" he demanded. "Li-Yu tricked me, or so you say, but at least I've known her for most of my life. If anything, I should trust you less."

"You do know me," hissed The Guardain. "We have to hurry."

"But I've never met you before."

"Yes, you have, just…not while I'm like _this_," it muttered and waved impatiently at its body.

"What does that mean? Who are you?"

"Follow me, and I'll explain. Time is running out."

Haurran hung back, still considering the gate. Eventually he nodded even though the stall in his questioning irritated him farther. He couldn't interrogate The Guardian if it vanished deep into the Spirit World, and he wanted to return to his body just as badly even without an urgent reason.

Once again The Guardain whirled and soared away, moving as if a powerful wind pushed it from behind. Haurran was forced to run just to keep up, but even after several minutes of constant jogging he was not severely winded. The Spirit World lent some advantages to humans, it seemed.

"Why couldn't I go through that gate?" Haurran asked when he was close enough to The Guardian.

"It leads deeper into the Spirit World, to a place you've never been before. If you'd entered it, you would likely never find your way back to your body."

"Then why would Li-Yu take me there?"

"I'm sure you can figure that out for yourself." The Guardian's tone was frayed, antagonized. "You were the one who said you've known her all your life."

"Alright, then tell me what's going on. Am I in some danger back in the human world?"

"Of course, you idiot," snapped the spirit. "I should have ended that meeting much sooner. I knew Korr was coming but I thought…well I didn't know he would try to burn the temple down while you were still _inside_. He's supposed to deliver you alive, and I don't see how he'll do that if you've suffocated and charred into ash."

They had left the bamboo forest far behind, and entered a rocky field that lacked any landmarks. Haurran struggled over the large rocks that caught his feet, and found it nearly impossible to listen to The Guardian and dodge boulders at the same time. Aside from that, the spirit's long speech wasn't making sense to him. Haurran didn't know anyone named Korr. Worst of all he realized that The Guardian said the shrine had gone up in flames with his body still inside.

"Where are we going?" he panted, slowly losing his breath.

"To a safe gate. You'll have to hurry and find your body once we pass through."

"Has it been moved?"

"Ona and Den tried to move you away from the shrine, but they're doing a terrible job of it." The Guardian somehow began to move faster, and it spoke so rapidly that Haurran could barely understand what he heard. "Elosi has cast her mist around the shrine also, probably to try and listen in on our meeting, but she won't have been able to hear through the forest. In any case, until you are moved out of the fire and the mist, it may be a very difficult to reenter your human form. It will actually be very painful, I think, when you reawaken to find your lungs filled with acid smoke."

"Oh," was all Haurran could say. He looked up nervously and saw another gate, identical to the one Li-Yu had led him to, perched on top of a far hill. His lungs burned a little now and the air he breathed felt like pin points in his chest, but he forced his feet to continue up the hill.

"Be careful when you reawaken," The Guardain said, beckoning him to the crest. "Put it off as long as you can, no matter how much you see the other two struggling. If you faint you'll be no better to them then you are now."

"But if they're in trouble-"

"Wait," commanded The Guardian. "Ona can pull you out of this if your timing is right. She may even need a bit of a wakeup call to get her moving. One thing you cannot do is let her become discouraged. You need to stay together until you've finished with Elosi."

"Alright…" Hauran said half-heartedly. He was nervous to see what lay beyond the gate, and it alarmed him to think that reentering his body would be painful. In the past Doric had shaken or smacked him if he lingered in the Spirit World too long, but when he did come back the pain was always negligible. He hated to admit any cowardice, but there was a strong feeling in his gut to turn and run away from the gate.

In the end he was able to summon enough courage to step forward, but he closed his eyes as a flash of white light wrapped around him. It faded instantly, replaced by a relentless orange blaze. His eyes snapped open at the putrid reek of smoke and an uncomfortable sensation of heat. What he saw was more startling that he had imagined.

He was not inside his body, but standing where it should have been in the middle of the shrine. There was no sign of Ona or Den, but there was another person standing so close that Haurran could have reached out and touched him. Instead he backed away, horrified.

The man was dressed in white robes, and his dark face was shadowed with a menacing glare. He was the leader of the assassins. He had somehow caught up them, and judging by the torch I his gloved fist and the raging fire in the forest, he was ready to burn down the city to be sure his targets would not escape again.


	15. A New Ally

****** I'm becoming slower and slower at writing these chapters (from what I hear, it happens a lot), but that's mostly because I'm trying to jump start my next few projects. Writing fiction that isn't fanfiction is so much harder than I thought, and I'm investing considerable amounts of time into that. But now things start to get interesting. A new character appears here, and the plot moves toward it's next turn. Hopefully I can be a bit more lighthearted with the next chapter. Looking forward to it. **

**Thanks for reading, and I'll see ya soon!****  
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**Chapter 15**

**A New Ally  
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A hand closed around Ona's arm and tugged her upright. She gasped, searching, but her eyes saw only darkness when she looked up. The grip was strong, and she could recognize a new presence even though the smoke and fire dominated her thoughts. When it pulled her again she readily rose to her feet.

A steady, feminine voice spoke to her from nowhere. "Walk. Go down the stairs."

Ona's head swirled. Nothing she looked at was solid; she couldn't even find the ground. Even if she could work up the strength to move her legs, fear and uncertainty kept her firmly in place.

The hand clutching her arm coaxed her forward with a firm push. Ona stepped and nearly cried out when her foot left the ground. Her world tilted dangerously, but suddenly righted itself when her heel touched down. She let out her breath, only to drag in another full of smoke and cough it out again. The hand pushed once more, but she resisted the next step.

"Haurran," Ona said. Her voice was strangled, breathless.

"I'll get him," the hidden woman replied.

The grip disappeared all of a sudden, but Ona was not prepared to lose its support. The flaming room dipped to one side, the inferno blurred into a stream of orange and black, and the smell of scorched wood became overwhelming. Ona felt she was falling, but the sensation continued far longer than it should have. It was impossible to tell how far away the ground was when there was no difference between up and down.

In her mind, Ona was sure she was about to die. When the fall finally ended in an agonizing crash her life would stop, but she could not understand why it was taking so long. Could she land any second? Or would she fall endlessly through this blackness, always fearing the impact that would never come?

And then her next step found its place on solid ground, and just like before everything became straight again. Breathing shallowly, she prepared for another stride. As before the room tilted. Dizziness spiraled through her mind. This time surely she would hit the ground, shatter and never stand again.

But that step landed, and so did the next and even the next after that. Soon Ona was confident enough to lift her feet without any pause, but her pace was still slow.

The flames ate away the shine around her, and smoke swallowed the air. Ona knew she had to find the way out quickly. She wasn't going fast enough, even with all her effort. Falling frightened her as much as the miserable death behind, but she hastened her steps as much as she could bear.

The stairs almost halted her progress completely. She hadn't known where they began, and the distance between the shine floor and the first stair seemed infinite. This time the sensation as her foot sailed down was not just of falling, but plummeting so fast that it seemed the earth would split when she met it. For the first time the dizziness did not disperse when her foot landed. The burning trees continued to tilt sideways as she stared at them.

Fear drove Ona to dare three more careful steps down, but by the third she was so shaken that she refused to even inch forward. For a moment she began to consider that burning to death would be better than continuing on. Nothing would move her again. She would burn here with her hands strapped to her swirling head, but at least she would die on solid ground.

Then from nowhere another hand suddenly struck out. Sharp fingers dug into her hair and took a strong hold on her skull. Ona screeched and thrashed as she was dragged forward down the stairs by a stranger she couldn't see.

Anger at being pitched back into the sliding fall rushed through her. Ona twisted and kicked in every direction, not sure if she was attacking trees or the person yanking her forward. It didn't matter if her kicks found their mark or not, because the hand only tightened and pulled harder.

Anger was punctured by panic, and inspiration came all at once. Summoning all her might Ona slapped her hand onto the stone, unsure exactly what it was meant to do. But all the same the earth responded, and a mighty vibration began deep under the stones. The trembling grew, and then in with a leap each of the stairs sailed up into the sky, rippling like a great wave.

Ona's head tore free of the grip as the steps surged above the trees. The air was suddenly clear, and it felt ice cold in her chest. Huge pellets of rain slapped the warped stones, quickly soaking the ground. The light was bright in Ona's eyes, even though gargantuan clouds towered overhead. She flinched, once again disoriented. Not even the stairs felt quiet solid anymore.

Before her eyes could focus a white figure dove forward directly at her. Her eyes struggled to distinguish it from the rest of the scenery. Something relentless and powerful crashed into her body like a wall, and she lifted far off the ground only to land again, bouncing on the hard ground.

Pain brought fire to Ona's senses, and she felt her head clearing rapidly. The blurry white form became a man, flying high overhead and screaming as if an army was riling at his call. His face surged up in her mind, called back from fearful memories.

The assassin struck out with spears of wind, and Ona reacted without thinking. Terror came like lightning into her limbs, and all of her instincts centered on escaping. The rock wall she brought up splintered like brittle wood when the wind assailed it, large chunks of stone splattering and falling the vast distance to the ground.

Ona spun around and ran. The path was uneven and narrow, and she could feel pulses of air as the assassin skipped like a bird above her. He came closer and closer. It was risky to stop, but Ona whirled in place and stomped a brigade of pointed stones from the ground. She didn't bother to aim, flinging the earthy missiles blindly over her shoulder and hoping that they at least slowed the man down.

Meanwhile her mind was stuck on one thought. How had the man caught up? That one question rippled through her thoughts, creating dozens more that she could only acknowledge with flickering attention. Overall she could only think of fleeing before he reached her again. The knowledge that he had been so close, that his claw-like fingers had scrapped her scalp, made her stumble more than once.

All of a sudden Ona felt her entire body jolted and again she was swept off the ground. She soared dozens of feet before landing cruelly on the rocks, tearing the skin from her palms and knees.

Ona scrambled to her feet, wincing as pain burned across her body. A towering wall of rock jumped up behind her, blocking another wave of wind. She hastily raised three more until the tall barriers protected every side and only a tiny square of light remained far above. The four sided stronghold reached up into the belly of the rainclouds where mist swirled around the rocks.

Inside the fortress Ona could only just hear the air bender outside, trying to smash the front wall down. He would succeed at this rate. In her hurry, Ona had created both a hiding place and a prison, and though the reprieve gave her time to think, she would still have to face the assassin to escape.

First she had to force her breathing to slow down. With steady breaths she was able to clear the remaining dizziness from her head, and reign in the roar of adrenaline in her mind. Only when she felt calmer did Ona take a look at her situation again. She looked up at the gap in the walls dozens of feet above. If the man tried to float over her walls she would have trouble stopping the onslaught he could funnel down at her.

_I have to keep him on the ground. _She thought. _If he can't see me, maybe I can get away by dropping down._

Stepping back, Ona listened carefully to the sounds outside the wall. The crashes of assault had stopped, and only silence could be heard, even when she pressed her ear tentatively to the stone. Her heart began to beat harder. The assassin could be anywhere, floating silently and waiting for her to collapse the wall.

Once again she looked up, watching the bulbous rainclouds twisting overhead. The weight of water in the air was heavy. The full storm would come any moment.

Ona blinked as something small and hard pelted her forehead. She thought for a moment that it was rain, but when tendrils of dust and pellets of rock tumbled down by her feet, she realized they were crumbles of the wall. She listened again, and placed her hand on the flat rock. At first she felt nothing, until she focused deeper on the earth and recognized an erratic beating outside. Every few seconds the quiet trump would be farther up the wall. More dust and pebbles showered down.

Ona realized what was happening. _He's climbing the wall? _That seemed improbable for an air bender. Why wouldn't he just float over the gap and drop inside?

Something above must be stopping him. Something even he didn't dare to challenge. Something huge, and powerful, and. . .wet.

"The rainclouds," Ona said out loud. "He doesn't want to enter the storm!"

The square gap in her fortress was shrouded in clouds, poking into the bottom edge of the storm above. Ona did not understand much of air bending, or why the assassin would avoid the storm, but this hunch was the only advantage she had. This man was stronger than she was. Exploiting this weakness could be her key to escaping.

The thuds of the man's footsteps were slowing down as they went higher. He seemed to be more careful at that height. He probably hoped to climb over the ledge and down through the gap, and he didn't want to overshoot his target.

Ona hastily threw together a plan. She knew right away that it was a long shot, but her frantic mind could not contrive anything better. To pull this off she would have to trap the assassin and force him into the clouds. The key would be to control enough space that the air bender could not simply jump away. She sighed, prepping herself for the greatest feat of bending she had ever dared.

With no more time to gather herself, Ona checked one last time on the assassin's progress. He was perhaps a dozen yards from the top of the wall, slowly climbing upward. Now was the moment to act. She could not waste even another second.

Leaning back against the rear wall, Ona lifted one foot and set it on the stone before her. Feet and legs were even more powerful in earth bending than hands or arms, unlike most of the other elements. Ona knew she would need as much power as she could find. Slowly she slid her foot up a little way on the wall, crumbling the core of the stone as she went. With the wall weakened, this next blow would be twice as effective.

First she drew in a deep breath, held it, and pulled her foot back. Together the air crashed from her lungs and her leg struck out, plunging through the rock and shattering it. Chunks of stone burst apart from the bottom of the wall all the way to the top, creating a colossal down pour of earth that rivaled the raindrops in number.

Ona watched the assassin frantically push away from the wall when he saw it collapse. He coasted from one falling boulder to the other, avoiding harm by landing on light feet.

All of this would be for nothing if he managed to land, but Ona was ready for him. She opened her arms wide and felt the left and right walls of her fortress loosen from the earth. Their immense weight pressed into her bones, and her muscles tightened as she brought her arms together. The walls swept in and met, creating an angle where they connected. One stood in the corner between the walls, with her arms stretched out, and took several steps forward.

The pointed walls surged toward the assassin. He was still trying to escape his fall, and had nowhere to run from the towers as they moved quickly at him. Ona could not see the man, or tell if he had escaped, so she began to run forward, pushing the walls ahead of her like an arrow flying to its target. It was difficult to tell if the air bender had been hit by the walls, because large boulders and hunks of rock were crashing down on every side. She would have to take a gamble.

Moving this much earth was slow and difficult for Ona. Her affinity with grit and stone was great, but she was adept at raising earth, not spinning it around and moving it. All the same, she would have to be quick, to act before the assassin fled out of range.

Still pushing forward, Ona suddenly skipped to the side and punched the left wall. Using force from her core she brought it around like a door, swinging it out in an arch until it faced the other wall. The two came together with a low thud, sandwiching any rocks, or assassins, that may be caught in between.

Hopefully having trapped the assassin, Ona only had to make him more vulnerable. This was the easy part. Jumping as high as her tired legs could lift her; she swung her arms and called once again to the earth right below her feet. Her entire body engaged the ground, and for an instant it was as if weights hung off of her arms, feet and neck. And then she landed, and her arms lifted up. In response the ground rose in a jagged mass, carrying her and the folded walls up into the storm clouds.

Bursting into the storm was like hitting a wall of fog, where the air was sharpened into a thousand piercing spikes. Ona hadn't realized how powerful the wind would be, and there seemed to be more water than air in the seething clouds.

Squinting, Ona peered at the two walls, searching for a sign of the assassin. She knew she had caught him when suddenly a swirling ball of air twisted between the rocks, pushing the top wall up. The assassin was trying to use the ball to lift the wall off of his body. Ona reacted instantly, pushing down with her arms to press the barriers back together.

The air bender's sphere was somehow weaker than she expected. It didn't press back as powerfully as it should have. In fact, the wind was whipping away from the center, pulled off by the torrent around it. The assassin struggled to control his own bending, as all of his efforts to discipline the air to his command were thwarted by the storm.

Even knowing this, Ona was sure that as soon as she released pressure on the upper wall, it would be flung off and the assassin would be free. She had to fight his air bending until the sphere diminished completely.

All of her effort was focused on holding down her enemy, but she could hardly ignore the wind picking up and the flashes of lightning muddled by the clouds. Thunder rocked the sky, louder than a detonation.

_No wonder he didn't want to go into the storm, _Ona thought fearfully. _We could die here. I have to go back down._

Slowly the air bender's sphere diminished. His carefully controlled ball was ripped into nothing by the wind, and soon there was little strength pushing the walls apart. The assassin was nearly out of power.

Now was the time to run, whether the assassin could still follow her or not. Ona knew she was in more danger from the storm than from him, and if the walls didn't crush him, perhaps the crashing winds would hold him at bay for a few moments more.

In haste Ona backed away from the walls, only releasing her hold on them once she felt the air bender was a safe distance away. As a last thought she raised several heavy loads of earth to lay on top of the walls, weighing them down in her place. And then she turned and scrambled down the mound of earth, falling more than running as loosed rocks chased her down the slope. With a quick gesture Ona smoothed the side of the disorderly mound into a slick ramp, flat enough that she could slide down on her back.

The tempestuous clouds thinned into clearer air. Ona slipped down quickly, slowing only as she reached flat ground at the base of the hill. She stood up and looked back at the clouds above.

Raindrops began to tumble down around her, splashing her face as she searched for the assassin. He did not appear, even though Ona watched for him for several moments. Thick brush surrounded her where she had landed, and she was concealed at the edge of a forest midway between the town and the shrine. The reek of smoke and scorched wood was still heavy in the air. The rain had only begun to quiet the fire.

For a while longer Ona stood in her hiding place, watching and listening, afraid to expose herself. Inwardly she battled fear and worry for Haurran and Den. The trees dripped water noisily, and the rainstorm became heavier than ever. It took what courage Ona had left to move through the bushes and along the tree line toward the shrine.

When the forest became too thick, Ona returned to the stone staircase. She felt even worse there, uncovered and visible for any assassin's searching gaze to find. Her intuition told her that she had not escaped danger, but her senses were too slow to feel the air changing until it was too late.

All of a sudden, Ona stopped. A second ago she had been panting heavily from the climb up the stairs, but now her breath stalled in her chest. Tension built between her lungs, like weights squashing her ribs against her spine. The downpour became a distant pattering, and no more raindrops landed anywhere near the step Ona stood on.

A heartbeat later, she realized that she could not breathe.

Ona twisted around, and there behind her was the assassin, drenched in water but burning with rage. He held one fist out before him, clenched tightly like the vice that held Ona's throat closed.

"You won't be going far now," the man hissed. His voice was strained, as if the effort of enveloping Ona in a vacuum was almost too difficult for him. He forced out a laugh. "I'm supposed to bring you two back alive. They said minimal damage on you girlie. You're supposed to sing my employer a little song."

Ona's lungs were already on fire from climbing the stairs. Spears of agony stuck in her chest and twisted around. Her head began to feel hot and light, and her limbs became like stone. Blackness confused her vision.

_I can't move. I need air!_

"You're quite the earth bender," the assassin went on. "Those walls you brought up would have crushed me like a bug. Good thing I slipped away in time." He grinned. "Or did you think you had caught me up there? You can't really see anything in a storm like that, so it was easy enough to fool you with just the air sphere. All I had to do was let you think you'd won, and wait for you to climb down out of the clouds on your own."

Ona closed her eyes, trying to force her shriveled lungs to open up.

"Go ahead and fall asleep," the man muttered. "I'll take you back quietly."

Not even a wisp of air could enter her mouth. It was useless, like moving a mountain with her finger tip. Her knees became weaker, and her head burned hotter as she began to faint.

And then all at once the pressure vanished and cold, searing air rushed into her chest. Ona collapsed, faltering on the edge of consciousness. The assassin grunted as if he'd been hit, and suddenly a new voice was speaking close by.

"Back off Korr," said a woman. "You can't do this by yourself."

No, it wasn't a new voice. Ona had heard it before, back at the shrine. There was no face to match the voice to, but whoever this woman was, she had come to help.

Ona forced her eyes open and pushed herself up. A tall, dark figure stood guard before her, facing the pale white form that was the assassin.

The air bender laughed again. "Of all the people . . . where have you been, Vol? Still flirting around with the monks?"

The woman didn't answer, but reached down and gripped Ona's arm. A strong pull lifted Ona to her feet, and held her as she swayed.

"This is just like you," said Korr. "Sticking your big nose in my business. You won't get away with it this time."

"And just what are you going to do to stop me?" the woman sneered.

This time the assassin paused. Ona saw uncertainty flash over his gaunt face, just before a smirk masked his expression. "You're not so great. If it weren't for you showing up, I'd have captured both of my targets and been on my way by now. I'd be real disappointed if I have to leave empty handed."

The woman smiled. "Well, if you want her, come and get her."

"Humph," Korr sighed. "I think I'll do just that. But nobody said I have to do it today. I still have time to deliver the brats. Besides, it'll be more interesting with you in the game."

"Everything really is a game to you then? That must be why you always cheat."

He shrugged, watching his new opponent closely. "Don't get mad if I play a better hand than you. It's been a long time since we faced off like this. Things have changed."

"Normal people change," the woman grunted. "You will always act like a spoiled child." Her eyes became poisonous. "Did you really think I wouldn't find you?"

"So you found me?" Korr grinned and waved a taunting finger. "But you can't hold me down."

Korr turned to leave, but like a flash the woman had left Ona's side and charged at him. She cut at the air bender with a knife that she pulled from nowhere, aiming at his neck. Nimbly the assassin leapt back, and then jumped up to avoid the next slice. He sailed over the woman's head and landed behind her.

She struck at Korr once more, but he jumped away like a bird. Ona blinked and he was right there next to her, his hand falling toward her head. But the woman was just as fast, sliding in right next to the assassin and slicing across his shoulder with the blade.

Korr cursed and thrust out his hands. A mighty wave of air funneled down the steps and crashed into Ona and the strange woman, throwing them both back. Ona crashed to the ground, but the woman landed neatly on her feet.

"See ya around, Vollette," Korr shouted. He winked, and jumped high into the sky, catching the air under his feet and sailing away with a mighty pulse of wind.

The woman watched him go, following his form until it was only a small speck against the black sky. She sighed and put away her knife.

Ona raised her head, and saw a hand offered to her. She took it and the woman helped her to her feet, favoring her with a smile. "He's gone for now. Korr always likes to leave with a bang."

Ona swallowed, unsure what to say. The woman chuckled at her blank expression. "Come on, I'll take you to your friends. I set them down somewhere around here . . ."

_Haurran! Den!_ Ona's thoughts raced back to when she had last seen them, lying on the shine floor, unconscious, unmoving. "Are they alright?" she said out loud.

"Come see for yourself," answered the woman. "I'll need you to help carry them anyway." She glanced up and down Ona's body, frowning. "It'd be best if all three of you went to a doctor."

Nodding, Ona's mind filled with disastrous possibilities. For all she knew, Haurran and Den could both be dead or dying. What if a doctor couldn't help them? What if it was too late? And what if this strange woman had already killed them, and was just leading Ona somewhere secluded to be murdered too? She was deadly with that knife, that much was obvious.

"Are you going to stand there, or do I have to drag two people back to town myself?" the woman snapped. Her tone was sharp, but her eyes were unusually kind.

Ona took a breath. "Who are you? Why did you help us?"

"Good question," the woman tilted her head. Rain dripped from her long locks of black hair, plastering her bangs to her pale forehead. Her black eyes studied Ona briefly, and then she smiled. "My name is Vollette."

That much Ona believed. The assassin had said the woman's name right before he left. "Do you know that air bender? You acted like you've met before."

Vollete's smile dropped into a sneer. "I've known Korr my whole life. That pompous rock head is my little brother."


	16. Den's Remarkable Wisdom

Hi guys, here's a new chapter. Just want to let you know that I've **posted an illustration of Vollette** on my profile (my first digital art painting so far!) So take a minute to go check it out. If you do follow the link, beware what else you may see in the gallery. I'm working on the illustration for an upcoming chapter, and I left the lineart on my page. :O It's a bit of a spoiler, so don't look if you don't want to know!

That's all! Hope you like this bit, and I'll see ya soon!**  
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**Chapter Sixteen**

**Den's Remarkable Wisdom**

"_Now that you bring it up, running away wasn't really a conscious decision for me. Of course, what I saw in my mind and what actually happened were miles apart. The real reason . . . I suppose I only wanted to see if I would be missed."_

_-_Den

The night was darker beneath the rainclouds, even as dimming light from the flames chased the shadows in the forest. Haurran stood and watched the rain slowly drench the fire. As a ghost lost in the brush, he couldn't think of anything better to do.

He had lost sight of Ona several hours ago. The battle with Korr had taken them both far up into the sky, and Haurran was reluctant to follow them without his physical body. It was not as if he could do anything to help her, though for some reason it had felt cowardly to turn away. When he decided to retrace his steps and find Den, he had discovered that the scorched shine was vacant. Either Den had awoken and walked off by himself, or someone had come and moved him. Worst of all, Haurran's body was missing as well.

Now the sun rising from the hills, and Haurran was still lost. He drifted around the trees, following the faint call of his spirit to his flesh. It was a sensation much like trying to find the way out of a building with his eyes closed; he could measure the distance to the door only by the sensation of cool air brushing his skin. If the wind wasn't blowing that day there was no way to tell one corner from the next. It seemed that no matter how far Haurran wandered, the call of his body did not grow stronger.

Existing in the human world outside of a physical form was wearing on him. Somehow the body served as a sort of armor for the spirit, guarding it against unknown traumas that would sap and drain the soul. Haurran began to feel weak and utterly insubstantial. The thought occurred to him that if he did not return to his body soon, he could fade out of the human world all together. What would become of his body then? Would that be death?

Oddly, he felt no fear as he continued on. He credited his apathy to exhaustion, and vowed to speed his search for his corpse.

But the tress continued endlessly. Haurran did his best to move in a straight line, hoping to eventually reach the edge of the forest. But the branches only knitted together more closely, and the shade deepened until not even the morning sunshine could break through the canopy. The tree trunks constricted into a dark tunnel. The brush on either side appeared to block passage in any direction except forward or back. Haurran took little notice of his surroundings. He coasted onward into the darkness.

In his indifference, Haurran failed to notice the forest transforming slowly around him . The trees smoothed gradually and became tall marble pillars, and the debris of leaves and stones beneath Haurran's feet hardened into a glassy floor. Golden light sent glittering beams down from high above, illuminating an unfamiliar, yet breathtaking hall.

Haurran stared at the scene, curious, but alerted to a foul premonition. A new weight lay over him, one that he had felt before.

Every time he saw Dai Ten's Kingdom, he was drawn deeper into its interior. In his first experience he had been shown the enormous palace from a distance. He remembered being seated in the sky among the clouds and looking down past a misty landscape toward a magnificent building. The turrets stood taller than the rainbow-colored trees, and even the river that flowed down the mountain was not wider than the castle's wall. The stones glowed with an array of deep colors, and at the rear a waterfall soared down from a high room, crashing into the weedy lake below.

The second time Haurran had been on the ground, standing before the wall and looking up. A strange horizon was behind him, where a leafy path led out from a forest of ferns and flowers as tall as buildings. The gate was blocked by an elaborate door, but Haurran's vision had ended before he could examine the lock.

Now this was his third encounter with the palace. He seemed to have passed the wall and entered an antechamber, though it was impossible to say exactly where he was.

The hall stretched on for a long ways, but along every inch of wall there were carvings of beasts, mountains, and skies. Briefly glancing at the intricate design, Haurran began to walk.

Eventually he noticed the pattern on the floor was that of fallen leaves in a forest. It was as if the ground itself had been plated in glass, perpetually setting the underbrush in place where it lay. Soon doors appeared on either side, and the hall curved inward. Haurran continued on, wondering how far he would be able to go before the vision ended.

And then suddenly he heard a noise. The clatter of a door sliding open, and then soft footsteps tapping on the stone tiles. He stopped, and listened. Somewhere ahead, around the curve where he could not see, someone had entered the hall.

The footsteps were quick but heavy. Haurran could sense the urgency of the stranger's tread, even as the steps moved farther away. Another door whisked open and there was a pause as the stranger walked inside another room, but there was no sound of the door closing again behind them.

Haurran cautiously moved forward, inching beside the wall until he could see the open door. He waited calmly for some time, alerted only by the occasional thud or bang from inside the room. He could tell by now that the stranger was searching for something, though he could not even guess as to what it was.

At last a figure swept out of the doorway. Haurran caught a flutter of deep blue robes, but the person was already racing toward another room, and there was no time to see any details. The stranger threw open a door across the hall and disappeared inside. Within moments there came more thumps and crashes echoing around the stone walls. Slowly, Haurran stepped closer to the door.

The figure in blue suddenly burst from the room and stopped. Haurran jumped back and hid behind a large pillar, hoping that he hadn't been seen.

"Where?" said a low, breathless voice.

Haurran turned and cautiously peeked around the stone. The figure was still in place, standing straight and massively tall. The blue robes masked every feature, even the stranger's face, but the voice was sharp with frustration.

"_Where_?"The stranger growled again, turning its head to look up and down the hall. "Where is my Guardian?"

Haurran frowned. _Guardian?_ Was the stranger searching for another person? Or maybe it was a spirit. The Guardian spirit?

_But why would The Guardian be here?_

Before he could think through the problem anymore, the blue robed stranger whirled and marched deeper down the hall. Haurran quickly stepped out from behind the pillar to follow, only to find that his foot landed on solid dirt, and not the shining tile of the palace. With a start he looked around and saw houses, trees and bright sunlight. Weather-worn banners of blue, white, red and green flapped in the light breeze, and countless colorful papers littered the street. The hall of Dai Ten's Kingdom had disappeared, dissolving in an instant back into the main road that divided Ruzuma.

Troubled and dazed, Haurran's ghost stood dumbstruck in the road for some time. He felt more drained than ever, and he was so distracted that he did not recognize the sensation that was prickling his mind. Groggily he realized that his body was very close by, and he could feel it summoning him deeper into the town. Haurran called on his last reserves of strength and moved airily forward. Slowly he followed the drenched streets, hunting drearily for his body.

* * *

Den stood on the edge of a cliff and looked down. Soft wind lifted dust and leaves around his feet, but the breeze could not pierce the fog that endured after the rain.

He had hoped that the moist night air would remove the bleariness from his mind. Yet the longer he remained standing at that edge the feebler he began to feel, and soon he had forgotten exactly where he was.

The hospital he had woken up in was a grey place, possessed by a dismal mood even though flowers and lush plants were placed in every room. The beds were comfortable, and the nurses were doting and polite. It may have been an pleasant setting, but it was also where Ona had told Den all that had happened after he collapsed. She explained about the fire and how Haurran had been found unconscious at the shrine. She told him that the doctors would do all they could to heal the burns all three of them suffered, but they feared some of the damage could never be fully mended.

She didn't explain how a fire could have given her so many bruises, but Den hadn't asked. By that time he only wanted to go outside and be alone.

Den had been advised to stay in his room. In his condition, he would probably be lost if he went alone. The mist was thickening, but the dawn was near. He didn't think he stood much to lose by abandoning his bed for a few minutes.

The sun was rising between the small buildings of the town below. The structures could barely be seen through the eclipsing haze, though Den expected the fog to soon fall from the height of his cliff. The dense fragrance of smoke tinged the morning air. Den could see flickers of orange in the distance, and he wondered if the fire had been fully put out by now. With a remorseful twist of his gut, he also wondered if anyone else had been harmed by the flames.

His fingers come up to his face, but the gentlest touch sparked fierce pain across his brow. He grimaced and put his hands in his pockets, blinking to try and clear his vision. His eyes watered, and tiny beads prickled his skin. Fearing another jolt of pain, he decided to leave his unwanted tears where they were.

The dawn stretched on, tossing bright colors into the sky. Den had always admired the shades and hues of a sunrise, and he often tried to match their vibrancy when he chose fabric. Sourly, he wished the mist would thin out so he could see the colors more clearly.

He squinted ahead for a short while, until something in the corner of his eye distracted him. A large bulbous shape flitted past his side, and for the moment he could keep his gaze on the thing, it seemed to float toward the hospital. Within seconds it had disappeared. But Den had seen the direction it was headed, and out of curiosity he decided to follow.

He had walked almost the entire way back to the hospital before he saw any sign of the odd shape again. It appeared to be floating through the fog, and when it reached the building it drifted right through the front door. Den frowned, and then winced as his burns sent a sharp tingle across his face. Shaking his head, he reached for the door, only for it to suddenly whisk open for him.

"Oh," said a tall woman standing in the doorway. "There you are."

Den blinked a few more times, but the woman's features were not as sharp as he thought they should be. He recognized her voice and her dark hair and eyes. Groaning inwardly, he prepared for Vollette to scold and jostle him back to his room. He had only met her a few hours ago, but her personality was so strong that he felt he had known her for years.

"We've been looking everywhere for you, idiot." Vollette rebuked. "Ona is very upset, did you know that?"

"No, how could I know that?" Den grumbled. "I've been standing by the cliff for an hour, so I can't know what's going on in this wretched place."

She ignored his tart comment. "Come inside, now. We're going back to your room. And who said you could take your bandages off your face?"

"I can't see anything with them on."

"Tough luck. If you end up with an infection and it kills you, you'll only have yourself to blame."

Her hand fell onto Den's shoulder and her fingers squeezed tight. Den let her lead him because stepping into the unlit hospital made it difficult to see. Aside from that, he had no idea where to go anyway. Vollette guided him down a number of short halls, all lined with tall curtains that shielded beds and their ill occupants. A few moans or whimpers came from behind the cloth walls, but even the nurses were paying no attention to the distressed noises.

Den tried not to rub his eyes, though he could not understand why the lighting in the hospital was so poor. Didn't the doctors need to see what they were doing? He could tell that the majority of windows were open, and guessed that the mist might be reaching into the building as well.

Suddenly Den caught sight of the strange ghostly shape again, floating toward a particular curtained room. He abruptly turned toward it, and Vollette's hand fell from his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" she demanded.

"I just want to see something." Den strode toward the room and grabbed the curtain. "Is anyone in here?"

Vollette didn't move. "Go ahead and see. You never know what you'll walk in on though."

She laughed quietly, but Den paid no heed. He slowly drew back the curtain and looked around. There was clearly someone lying on the bed, but in frustration Den realized that he could not make out who it was. He went to rub his eyes again, but Vollette caught his hand and stopped him.

"Don't touch your eyes, you'll make it worse," she said.

He freed his hand with a jerk and turned back to the person on the bed. "Who is this?"

Vollette looked, and laughed again. "Well, well. Guess you're awake."

Den stared harder, clenching his teeth in aggravation. "How can you see anything? It's so dark in here."

"It's Haurran, alright?" She slapped the back of his head and walked around to the chair on the other side of the bed. "He just woke up, so keep your voice down."

"Haurran?" He moved closer. "Are you okay? Ona told me what happened."

Den could now see the basic features of Haurran's face. His shaggy head nodded a few times, and he pushed himself up off the bed. He lifted his hands and pointed at Den, and then at his own face.

"Me?" Den said, interpreting the gesture. "Oh, I've just got a few burns on my face, that's all. It's-"

Running footsteps clattered up the hall, and a handful of people burst into the room. A red faced nurse grabbed Den's shoulders and spun him around. The sudden motion made the room spin frantically, and Den shut his eyes as nausea rapidly twisted his stomach.

"We found him, thank goodness," the nurse said.

"I found him actually," Vollette put in. "He was outside."

"Outside! Wasn't anyone watching him? He shouldn't leave his room!"

"That's what I said, but he's so stubborn."

A doctor wearing a long blue robe stepped up and took Den's arm in a firm grip. "Young man, you are not allowed to leave your bed without a nurse to guide you."

"What? I just wanted to go out for some air." Den tried to pull away, but the man would not let go.

"You cannot go anywhere alone," the doctor repeated. "With your degree of blindness you could seriously endanger - -"

"Blindness? I'm not blind." He jerked his arm again, and this time managed to pull free. "It's just foggy after the storm. Anybody would have trouble seeing."

For a moment there was silence in the room. Den looked from one blurred face to the next, not comprehending the heavy pause.

"I'm not blind," he protested.

"Den," Vollette said, in a voice much softer than he was used to hearing from her. "There is no fog outside, and every light in this hospital has been lit."

He stared at her fuzzy form, sitting authoritatively in the chair. He looked to Haurran, and watched the other boy drop his gaze and look away.

"What are you trying to say?"

Another long pause followed. Finally the doctor took hold of Den's arm again, and spoke very quietly to him.

"Vollette has told us that you were at the shrine during the fire," he said calmly.

"Yes, I was. Until I – well . . ." Den trailed off, looking around the darkened room helplessly.

The doctor went on. "Your eyes were not closed when you collapsed, and unfortunately no one was able to reach you for some time. The burns across your face are severe, young man. We believe that the heat, smoke and fire . . . may also have damaged your eyesight."

Den stared ahead, unsure if he was actually looking at anyone at all. "But . . . how can I . . ." he stumbled. "H-how bad is it?"

The doctor sighed and met eyes with everyone in the room, as if to apologize for what he was about to say. "It is difficult to measure exactly how much damage there is. But based on the descriptions you have given about what you _can_ see, I would say that little more than half of your visual capability has been lost."

Den's mouth went dry, and he felt as if a block of ice had frozen in his stomach. He didn't say anything, and after a moment the doctor continued to explain.

"An infection could cause you to become completely blind at best, and at worst it could kill you. We will do all we can to heal the damage, but without your cooperation, nothing is guaranteed."

Slowly, Den nodded. With no further words he was led back to his room and told to sit on his bed. While he stared dully forward, the fuzzy shapes of the nurses moved about his room carrying pails of water and rolls of bandages. They rubbed a noxious salve across his face, and told him to shut his eyes as the bandages were wound tightly around his head.

When Den opened his eyes again, all he could see was darkness.

* * *

It was several hours later when Den heard the curtain slide open, and footsteps approach his bed. He turned his head toward the sound, but the stiff bandages made even that movement cumbersome.

"Who goes there?" he laughed.

"Den, it's me," Ona said. "Haurran is here to. We wanted to talk."

Den shrugged. "Come in. I can't stop you."

His tone was not degrading or spiteful. One of the first things Den had decided was that he would not let his injury make him bitter. Of course he had yet to fully cope with the fear and desolation he felt inwardly, but the one thing he did not want was to be left alone. He could not afford to drive away all hospitality by revealing how cheated and angry he really felt.

He listened as Ona moved to the side of the bed and stood next to him. He felt very vulnerable with his eyes blindfolded. He was constantly afraid that someone was reaching to touch him, and he would flinch dramatically when their hand met his shoulder or his arm. It was impossible to read the expressions on anyone's face, or the posture of their bodies for unspoken meaning. Den could only tell that Ona stood on his left side, and he had to stop himself from inching away beyond her reach.

"Den," Ona sighed. Her voice sounded contrite, and Den suddenly did not want to listen to anything she was about to say.

"Sorry," he jumped in, trying to force a lighthearted tone. "I don't really want to talk about . . . my . . . eyesight right now. " He faltered, but then cleared his throat and smiled. "Do you think . . . someone could hand me the glass of water on the table?"

Ona rushed to oblige, clumsily shoving the cup into Den's hand. He took it shakily, and sipped the water without really paying attention. He hoped Ona and Haurran had come to visit him with something other than apologies.

"Maybe we should just let you rest," Ona offered.

"No!" Den's voice was louder than he had intended. He laughed reflexively and gulped water to calm himself. "No, you don't have to leave. There are lots of other things to talk about."

"Oh," she agreed. "Sure. Actually Haurran has something that he would like to ask you."

"Is that so?" Den cheered. "Ask away! I'm always happy to offer a morsel of my remarkable wisdom."

There was a pause that Den could not discern, and he wondered if his friends were seeing through his boisterous disguise. His grin slid downward into a tight-lipped line as he waited.

"What?" Ona hissed. Her voice seemed to be turned away from him, perhaps toward Haurran. "Why do you want to ask him _that?_" She paused, and then chuckled harshly. "No, I'm not – this is ridiculous. What sort of question . . . Fine, fine, I'll ask! You don't have to be rude."

"What is it?" Den said politely.

Ona sighed. "This is Haurran's question, not mine, got it?"

"Sure."

"Alright," she went on, and Den could just imagine her scowling in exasperation. "He wants to know what gifts you would give to a girl if you wanted to impress her."

Den frowned, and then slowly began to laugh. "He's asking _me?_"

"I guess he thinks you know a thing or two."

"Well," he shrugged nonchalantly, "you could say that. I did work in a dress shop for a few years. I think I know what the ladies like."

He would have winked, until he remembered that neither of his friends could see it if he did.

"I don't even know why he's asking." Ona sounded flustered, but for the first time that day Den actually felt amused.

"If I were you, Haurran," Den said, "I would think about what sorts of things this girl likes to do. You want to let her know that you've been paying attention to her, and that you actually know how to use your brain."

"He says that he doesn't really know the girl at all," Ona said sourly. "Oh, and he wants you to assume that it's not a girl, it's a _woman._"

Den nodded and touched his fingers to his chin. "That _does_ change the scenario drastically. Hm . . ." his fingertips tapped thoughtfully against his chin as he brooded. In truth, Den had considered this problem many times before, but the women that came into the dress shop were always easy to read. Haurran offered no specifications about personality or taste. What did women like, in general?

"Jewelry, clothes and flowers," he concluded. "And compliments. And class, though sometimes it's better to come off as a little timid, but you should never be tense or edgy. She'll think you're making fun of her."

Ona snorted. "That's it? That's what you think girls like?"

"No," Den grinned. "It's what _women_ like. There's a difference that you have yet to see."

He was sure that Ona was about to slap him, and he flinched even though the hit never came. Ona laughed at him instead and his face burned red.

"Well, Haurran," Den said, directing his words into open space, "if you need any help just come to me. In fact, I can actually give you some jewelry if you'd like."

A sudden thought occurred to him, and he reached into his pocket under the blankets. He found the golden bracelet that he had taken from the cart the night before, and held it up so that his friends could see.

"Take this. It's from the dress shop in Topul."

"Hold on!" Ona cried. "You gave that bracelet to _me_."

Den scoffed and clutched the circlet tightly, afraid that she would try and grab it. "You don't really want it, so why not let Haurran make use of it?"

"You can't take back a gift and give it to someone else!"

"I'm sorry," he said slyly, "but I'm blind now, so I can't really _see_ the problem here."

Ona didn't say anything else, but Den kept the bracelet in his hand just in case. "There's also the dress. You could use that too."

"What dress?" Ona demanded.

"The dress you tried on at the shop. Haurran came in and bought it right after you left." Den turned his head toward her voice. "Jemmine almost didn't sell it to him, but luckily I was there to explain that you two knew each other. That was when I decided to start following you, actually."

"Haurran," Ona growled maliciously, "you brought the dress and didn't tell me? What were you planning to do with it?"

"Did I spoil something for you?" Den asked apologetically. "She won't wear it anyway, so it's better to just give it to someone else if you can."

"Shut up, Den! First my bracelet and now my dress . . ."

"Look, that takes care of two gifts," he interrupted. "If you don't really know this person, you might only want to give her one at a time."

"He says there have to be three gifts," Ona seethed. "I guess he's courting a very special lady."

"Guess so . . ." Den bit his lip, thinking again. "Gosh, you don't want to seem too serious; that could scare her away. What if you played your Viinesone for her? That's like a gift, but it's more like a very kind gesture than an actual present."

"Sounds great," Ona said roughly. "Now Den all this thinking must have made you tired. I need to speak with Haurran for a little while, so we'll just leave you to rest now."

Den once again asked them to stay, but this time he received no reply. The curtain was pulled closed and he was left alone. Smiling to himself, he sat back on the bed and played the bracelet through his fingers. To his surprise, he found himself in a better mood than he had been in a while.


End file.
